Radioactive
by Princess Jewels
Summary: He finds a lone woman in the woods who as survived by herself since the outbreak. But what happens when Daryl brings her back to camp? (Follows story line) Rated M for blood, gore, smut, cussin', etc.
1. The Girl In The Woods

**Name: **Julianne Taylor  
><strong>Nickname: <strong>Jewels (but not quite yet, Daryl will give her that nickname ^_^)**  
>Age: <strong>32**  
>Height: <strong>5'4"**  
>Hair: <strong>Brown**  
>Eyes: <strong>Deep Blue**  
>From: <strong>Atlanta, Georgia**  
>Weapon(s) of Choice: <strong>Bear ® Archery Fred Bear Super Grizzly Recurve Bow, hunting knife**  
>Job (Pre-Apocalypse): <strong>Head chef and owner of a café

* * *

><p><em><strong>Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…<strong>_

_I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones. Enough to make my systems blow, welcome to the new age, to the new age, welcome to the new age, to the new age._

"ORDER UP!" I yelled over the banging and clanging of the café kitchen that I worked in. The music that played over the radio while I cooked had no meaning to me at the time, it was just another over played song on the radio that I couldn't help but sing along to whenever it came on the radio.

I didn't know at that point that through the hustle and bustle of trying to keep up with orders and everyday life, that that song was more like a foreshadowing of times to come…

A FEW MONTHS LATER…

"All I've had for weeks is squirrel," I said, setting my bow down after a disappointing hunt.

I had been on my own, hiding out in the woods after the zombie infection out break for months. No family, no friends…just me, myself and my bow. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand a very sharp hunting knife.

_Rustle_

I pulled my hunting knife out and spun around, waiting for whatever might come out. It could be a walker or even some food for myself. I waited for a little longer and when I saw what looked like a human foot, I charged. It was kill or be killed, and I was not about to be killed. The thing was that the next thing I knew, I found myself on the ground with a man on top of me struggling to get my knife away from me.

"Would ya stop it, ya god damn bitch…I ain't gonna kill ya," he said, slamming my hand back onto the ground, the knife flying from my hand. After that it was time to move to extreme measures, and I swung my leg up and kneed him where it hurts.

He groaned and rolled away from me giving me my chance to grab my knife, pin him down with my knee, and hold the knife to his neck. "Who the hell, are ya and what do ya want?!"

"I was trackin' a deer an' I came across you," he said, still in pain from where I kneed him, "Ain't my fault you were right in my line of trackin'."

"The deer is dead…" I said, getting off him, "I was trackin' it too and it got caught by a walker."

He just looked me up and down. "You…were trackin' that deer?"

"I may be pretty, but I can track a deer like the best of 'em," I said, "Don't let the big boobs fool ya."

He slowly got up. "You alone out here?"

"Ain't got anyone else in the world," I said, "Family's dead, friends went to higher ground so to speak."

He looked like he was contemplating something and then he let out a small sigh. "Well you don't seem like someone who would murder us all in our sleep."

"I don't harm people unless they are a danger to me," I stated.

He shifted uncomfortably. "I know….I'm…part of a camp, a few men but I would say mostly women an' a few kids."

"Are you asking me if I'm willing to let go of my solitude out in the _wonderful_ great outdoors and join a camp full of people I don't even know?" I questioned, "I don't even know your name." I took a step closer to him. "And for a couple of measly adrenaline filled minutes we were rolling around with each other, trying to kill each other."

A small smirk crossed his face as he let out a small chuckle. "Name's Daryl…Daryl Dixion."

"Well, Daryl Dixion…my name is Julianne Taylor. It's a pleasure to meet you."

A WHILE LATER

"Well…this is it," Daryl said leading me into the camp.

There was an RV, some cars, several tents, and people doing what looked to be daily chores.

"Daryl, wha'd you bring back this…who the hell is this?" a man who looked like he may have some authority around the camp said as he walked over.

"More squirrels and I found her in the forest," Daryl replied gruffly, "She puts up a good fight and she can hunt."

"You got a name?" the man asked.

"Since birth," I replied, cocking my head a bit.

The man looked at Daryl.

"I like her," Daryl said.

The man through up his hands and just walked away.

"That's Shane, biggest prick you'll ever meet," he said.

"I can tell," I said.

"My tent is over there next to my brother's…I suggest you stay away from that area as much as possible," he said with a warning look.

"Gotcha…"

"I'm sure you'll get along well with the other girls, so just find a place to set up your tent and get to your self-introductions."

"What about you?"

"I got work to do," he said, holding up the squirrels, "And besides, you can obviously take care of yourself."

He walked away and I shook my head before finding an empty spot to start setting up my tent.

"Need some help?" a woman with short graying hair asked.

"Sure," I replied. _'Might as well start makin' friends.'_

"Shane's been complaining about Daryl bringing you here," she said, honestly as we started to set up the tent.

"He can complain all he wants," I said, "This is the first time since the outbreak that I've been in a group an' I'll pull my weight. Hunting, fishing, chores…whatever ya guys need, just ask."

She gave a small smile. "What's your name?"

"Julianne Taylor." I replied.

"It very nice to meet you, I'm Carol," she said.

I smiled. Maybe this whole camp thing was gonna be a good idea.

That night after I had introduced myself to everyone, pitched in with chores, and helped Daryl finish with those squirrels we all sat around the small campfire. I sun was just starting to set so the cold was just creeping in.

"Oh great," Lori said looking towards the road as a truck came up it, "Merle's back."

"Merle?" I questioned, getting up and walking over to the stew pot for more of the squirrel stew that had been fixed for dinner.

"Daryl's older brother," Lori replied with a scowl.

"Oh…"

I heard talking behind me and continued to gather myself some stew, leaning over the pot to check and make sure I left enough meat for everyone, when suddenly the talking stopped and I head a cat call.

"Oooh wee, baby brother. You said you found a girl out in the woods, but that right there. Mmm, that is a mighty fine piece of ass. Sugar, why don't you turn around and let ol' Merle see the rest of the package, hm?" a man said.

I scowled and turned around to face a man that was a few years older than Daryl, but there was definitely some family resemblance.

"My, my, my," he said, "You brought back a mighty fine piece of meat."

"Knock it off bro," Daryl said.

"Bet you've tapped this one already. Or is she free game?" he questioned, "Honey, why don't you meet me in my tent lat-."

"Listen here asswipe," I snapped, cutting him off, "I will by no means be getting with ya, an' if ya even try to put your hands on me, I will cut them off, then give up a slow and painful pen-ectomy. Got it? Got it? Good!" I took my stew and sat back down, ignoring the amused looks that I was getting from everyone.

"Stupid bitch," I heard Merle grumble before he walked off to his tent.

"I don't know if that was really smart, or really stupid," Daryl said, before walking off himself.

'_Neither do I,'_ I thought.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: Saying as that's the first chapter it may not have been as good as everyone was hoping, but I hope you enjoyed it!**_


	2. Merle Problems

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Days passed and I soon became accustomed to everyday life in the camp. Chores where what I was getting sucked into over the last few days so hunting was really off my radar. Also, Daryl was pissed at me so I felt it was better to stay out of the woods and away from his crossbow.

"So wha'd you do before all this shit happened?" Andrea asked me as we sat alongside the other girls washing clothes.

"I was a chef…had my own café and everything," I replied.

"Your own café?" Carol said, "But you're so young."

"I'm 32, Carol," I said.

The girls stopped and just stared at me. "No, you're not 32," Lori said.

"My birth certificate says so," I said, finishing up one of Daryl's shirts. I had taken it upon myself to wash Daryl's clothes kind of as a peace offering.

"You don't look it," Andrea said.

"Um…thanks," I said.

"If I was still 32…" Carol said, looking out onto the lake, "This all might be a lot easier on me."

"Doubt it," I commented, "I keep thinkin' back to how everyone kept sayin' 'don't work too hard, you'll let life pass you by' and 'the right man will come along, just wait and see'…maybe I did work too hard an' maybe the right man was right in front of me at one point and I didn't try hard enough. But Carol you have Sophia and…" I stopped and looked over and scowled at Carol's husband who was watching over us as we watched the clothes. "Ed…"

"You really did have no one when you were out by yourself did you?" Amy asked.

"Amy…" Andrea said in a warning tone.

"Its okay…" I said, "My father, may he burn in hell, died in prison when I was 10, two years after he threw me through a plate glass window. Mom's a junkie whore and I haven't seen her in forever. And my grandparents who raised me after the incident with my dad died in a car crash a year and a half before all this shit started."

"Jesus Christ…" Lori said.

"Nothing to get worked up over. Life dealt me a shitty hand, but I turned it around the best I could and went to culinary school, worked my ass off in the food industry, and then opened my own little café."

"Damn girl," Andrea said, "Walkers must be a cake walk for you at this point."

"A tough life sometimes gives you tough skin," I said.

We continued to wash clothes and then hung them to dry in the sun, and since I hadn't been asked to do anything else I decided I was going to go for a walk. But I needed my bow.

'_Where's my bow?'_ I thought looked in and around my tent.

_CLINK_

"Aw man," I heard what sounded like Carl, not far from my tent. I peeked out the small window to see him holding my bow and him trying to use it, but having no success. I left the tent and went over and snatched it from him.

"Hey! Oh…." He stopped and backed away from me a bit when he saw it was me that had snatched the bow from him.

"This ain't no toy, Carl," I said, "This bow is made for grizzly huntin'. It can easily kill a human as well."

"I just wanted to try it," he said.

"If you want to try things like this, you first have to ask," I said, "My granddaddy taught me how to use a bow when I was younger than you, so I would be more than willing to teach you."

He gave a smile but it soon disappeared.

"But because you didn't, I won't teach ya. You were playin' with a weapon…remember that," I added.

"Yes ma'am," he said before walking away.

"Such a way with kids," I heard and heard and quickly turned around, bow and arrow at the ready.

Daryl put his hands up in defense. "It's just me."

"Should that make me feel any better?"

"Sassy…"

"What do you want?"

"For ya to put do the goddamn bow."

_WHOOSH_

He turned and looked at the arrow that had just zoomed an inch past his head. It was stuck in the tree behind him along with an unlucky squirrel.

"Was that necessary?"

"Yes…"

"Look…I'm like my brother in a lot of ways, but in a lot of other ways I'm not as well…one of those is how I believe women should be treated versus the way he thinks they should be treated," he said, "Now…I just came to say, thanks for washing my clothes. Carol said that you did 'em.'

"Peace offering…" I said.

"Well…we're good," he said, "But don't ever shoot a goddamn arrow that close to my fuckin' head again unless it's absolutely necessary."

I just shrugged my shoulders. "No promises."

LATER THAT EVENING

"Look what I found!" Glenn yelled running into camp, holding two boxes.

"Is that beer?" Shane asked.

"Yup, found it in one of the building in the city and the room that it was in was nice and cool," he replied with a grin.

"Oh those poor things," I said, taking a can from the box and popping it open. It had been awhile since I had had a beer, and though it was cheap stuff I didn't care, it was better than nothin'.

The alcohol had been flowing for a couple of hours and now people were either asleep or joking around. No one gave a shit about what was happening in the world at that point, right then it was more like everyone had just decided to take a random camping trip and here we all were hanging out.

"Here ya go darlin'," I heard as another beer appeared in front of me. Merle was standing there holding the beer can with a slight grin on his face. "Don' worry, I ain't done nothin' to it," he said before popping it open and holding it down for me.

I cautiously took and began drinking again.

"Seems you an' my baby brother get along quite nicely," he said, sitting down on the chair near mine.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess."

"Wha'd ya do to get him to bring ya' here anyway?" he asked.

"I tried to kill him," I said bluntly.

"Come again?"

"I didn't know he was a human until we started actually fighting, an' when he realized I was alone…he invited me back here…"

He chuckled. "That's my baby brother…"

"I don't feel good," I mumbled, feeling nauseous and my vision getting blurry.

"Maybe ya' should go to bed darlin'," he suggested, "Bet ya haven't had alcohol in a while."

"Yeah…" I said starting to stand up, only to have my vision go blurry and then completely black out.

MERLE'S POV

"Honey…didn't anyone ever tell ya' to get yer own beer?" I questioned, picking up the girl that was now leanin' on me. I walked to my tent a small groan escaping her lips. "Heh, you'll be doin' much more than that in a minute sweetheart."

I set her down on the sleeping bag and she started to open her eyes. "What the?"

JEWEL'S POV

"What the?" I started realizing I was no longer by the campfire. I looked around and saw Merle looking down at me, hands working at his belt buckle. I tried to let out a scream but a hand clamped down over my mouth.

"Now, now…none of that," he whispered. I bit down on his hand and he let out a groan but he kept me pinned. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, an' from the looks of it yer goin' for the hard way."

I tried kicking him, but he had my legs pinned as well. So, I had one last choice; a nice head butt. That worked for the most part and I managed to crawl partway out of the tent before the back of my shirt was grabbed and I was pulled back in and thrown back down.

"Merle, please don't," I choked out.

"Now that's what I like to hear," he said, continuing to get his belt undone.

No amount of hunting or fighting skills can prepare a woman for something like this. I was genuinely scared at this point so when the tent flap flew open I was relieved.

"What the fuck, man?!" Daryl snapped, pushing him so hard he fell to the ground. He then put his arm behind my back and under my knees and picked me up. "Stay the fuck away from her!"

Daryl left the tent and walked to his own, carrying me. I had never been so relieved to see one singular man in my whole life. I was shaking and I was so scared out of my mind that even when he tried to set me down I clung to him for dear life.

He sighed and sat down on the floor of his tent with me in his lap. "I saved your ass and now you're gonna make this difficult for me," he said, pulling a blanket around me.

I had never felt that vulnerable before in my life. Not even when I was little and my father would smack me around. I knew I was stronger than how I was acting that moment, but all of that strength just fell away and I cried into the chest of a man that I barely knew.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: There you have it! Chapter 2! Hope you liked it!**_


	3. Play Along

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

The next morning I woke up and I was in an unfamiliar tent that had an unfamiliar sent to it. It smell like…I can only describe it as a man. I vaguely remembered what happened the night before. It was all so blurry, but I knew at that moment I was safe. Daryl had saved me from his brother and taken me back to his tent where I cried it out and obviously fell asleep.

I slowly sat up and realized that I wasn't wearing my own shirt, but one of Daryl's extras. I looked around for my own and found it not far from me, ripped…probably from when Merle grabbed me.

I just sat there staring at the shirt. There was no reason to dwell on what happened…what happened, happened, it's in the past now and I know I threatened Merle beforehand, but I fuckin' let my guard down and he took advantage of that.

I heard a small snore and looked to see Daryl sound asleep on the other side of the tent. He had gotten himself as far away as possible, probably to show that he didn't try to take advantage of me at all while I was sleeping, and that was a sweet gesture on his part.

I crawled over and gave him a small, light pat on the head trying not to wake him up. "Thank you…" I whispered, before quietly getting up and leaving the tent.

I made my way to my own tent not even caring about the questioning looks from the girls as to why I had just come from Daryl's tent. Anyway, no offense to them since they are my friends, it wouldn't have been their business either way unless I decided it was their business.

I started to get to my chores and saw Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui and even Merle getting ready to head off somewhere. "Where you guys off too?" I asked, looking at Glenn.

"The city," he replied, almost sourly.

"What's up with you, don't want to go?" I asked leaning on a nearby tree.

"Normally it's just me, an in and out thing," he replied, "I don't have to worry about directing others through the city with all the walkers there."

"Understandable," I said, "Come back safely you guys." _'Except for you Merle,'_ I thought sourly,_ 'You can get eaten for all I care.'_

"We'll do that, and you just take care of my baby brother, got it," Merle said.

"What?" I questioned.

"He told me all about you two," he said.

'_The fuck is he talkin' about?'_ I thought.

Suddenly I felt two arms wrap around me and a chin rest on my shoulder. "Play along," Daryl breathed in my ear. I put my hand on one of his arms as a sign that I would and then his attention turn to Merle. "_I'll_ take _very_ good care of her," he said, giving me a small kiss on my neck which for some odd reason send a (good) shiver down my spine.

"Damn, and I thought I would get first crack at her," he said with a smirk before he got in the truck that him and the others would be taking.

My grip tightened on Daryl's arm and he planted another almost reassuring kiss on my neck. "As long as he _thinks_ you're my woman, he won't touch ya," he whispered, before releasing me, "Remember that."

"Yeah…" I said looking at him as he walked away.

'_That man does have a nice ass on him…wait, no, this is not the time…my neck was just kissed by a man I barely know…'_ I thought, putting my hand on my neck, _'But…he's trying to protect me from his brother.'_

"What the hell was that?" Andrea asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Um…well…you see…" I tried to get out.

"Are you and Daryl together?" she asked.

"Um…you know, I just remembered I have to um…organize my socks…gotta go, bye," I said before running off into my tent and zipping it shut.

A FEW DAYS LATER

The camp had been quiet; Andrea, Glenn, T-Dog, Jacqui and Merle weren't back yet, and Daryl had gone out to hunt the afternoon of the 'incident' as I like to call it, since I have no idea what else to call it at this point.

For the most part I was trying my best to avoid everyone since apparently before she left Andrea told Amy about the 'incident' and she told Lori and Carol and the other gals at the camp, and I guess Lori told Shane. I got the two headed freak show member at Coney Island look as I walked around camp and it was getting pretty old. At this point the only ones who didn't look at me strangely or try to interrogate me were Carl and Sophia.

"Julianne…I've got to talk to you," Lori said, walking over to me.

"If this is about Daryl I don't want to talk about it," I said.

"I just…you're such a nice gal and I don't want you to get caught up with a guy like him," she said.

"He's not such a bad guy," I retorted going off my experience with him.

"Julianne, I'm just-" she stopped when we both heard a strange noise.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

"Hey, Dale, can you see what that is?" Shane asked to the older gentlemen that spent his days either fixing his RV or standing/sitting on top of it watching for walkers and anything else that may pass by, "Talk to me Dale!"

"I can't tell yet," Dale said.

"Is it them? Are they back?" Amy asked.

"I'll be damned…" Dale said.

"What is it," Amy asked.

"A stolen car is my guess," he replied.

Glenn then pulled up in a beautiful red Dodge Challenger that had its alarm blaring. "Hey guys!"

"Holy crap! Turn that damn thing off!" Dale yelled over the alarm.

"Pop the hood!" Shane and I both yelled.

"My sister…" Amy questioned.

"Pop the hood!" I yelled again.

"What? Okay, okay. Yeah," Glenn said reach back into the car.

"Is she okay? Is she all right?" Amy badgered.

Shane reached into the engine of the car and disconnected the battery to turn off the alarm.

"She's okay!" Glenn replied.

"Is she coming back?" Amy asked.

"Yes!"

"Why isn't she with you? Where is she? She's okay?"

"Yes! Yeah, fine. Everybody is. Well, Merle not so much…."

"Are you crazy?" Shane asked him, "Driving this wailing bastard up here? Are you trying to draw ever walker for miles?"

"Don't be mean to the car," I said now sitting in the front seat hugging the stearing wheel, "She's done nothing to ya…beautiful thing looks just like my Stella."

"Are you okay?" Glenn asked.

"I miss my Challenger…she was the most beautiful car you have ever seen," I said.

"And they said guys have obsessions with their cars," Shane mumbled.

"Anyway, I think we're okay, car alarm and all," Dale said breaking up this little moment.

"You call being stupid okay?" Shane asked.

"Well. The alarm was echoing all over these hills. Hard to pinpoint the source," Dale said, "I'm not arguing, I'm not just saying." He then turned to Glenn. "It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time."

"Sorry…Got a cool car," Glenn said.

"She's beautiful…" I added.

Soon a box truck pull up even pulling me out of my little trance.

Andrea was the first to hop out of the truck and her and Amy hugged and thank god for that so she could now shut the hell up. Then it was Morales, who was greeted by his wife and kids.

But I could help but notice the look on Carl's face as he saw everyone reunite with each other. Lori had told me about his dad and what had happened, so it was only natural that he would hope to see his dad again.

"How'd y'all get out of there anyway?" Shane asked.

"New guy…he got us out," Glenn replied.

"New guy?" Shane asked.

"Yeah, crazy Vato just got into town. Hey, helicopter boy! Come say hello," Morales yelled. A man in what looked to be a sheriff's uniform stepped out of the truck. "The guy's a cop like you."

The man started to walk over and stopped when he saw Carl and Lori. "Oh my god…"

"Dad! Dad!" Carl yelled and ran over to the man, Lori close behind.

The man who I was now guessing from this was Rick held Carl and cried.

'_Happy reunions in a time like this…it's a good thing to see,'_ I thought.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	4. Blue Diamonds

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

That night as we all sat around the fire, Rick told us all about his story to find Carl and Lori and how he didn't give up hope and all that good stuff.

"Have you given anymore thought to Daryl Dixon? He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind," Dale said.

I had only been partially listening to this tale of survival and when Daryl's name was brought up I looked over.

"I'll tell him, I dropped the key, it's on me," T-Dog said.

"I cuffed him, that makes it mine," Rick said.

"Guys, it's not a competition. I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy," Glenn said.

"I did what I did. Hell if I'm gonna hide from him," T-Dog said.

"We could lie," Amy suggested.

"Or we could get someone else to tell him," Andrea said, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair, "Isn't that right Julianne."

"Andrea, don't bring her into this," Dale said.

"Why not?" Andrea questioned, "If she's sleeping with him, why not make it a whole lot easier on the rest of us and have her tell him."

"She wasn't there on that roof top," Rick said, "We can't bring someone into this who wasn't there."

"Fine, we tell the truth then. Merle was out of control and something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed," she said before looking at Lori, "Your husband did what was necessary, and if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's."

'_Good luck tellin' that to Daryl,' _ I thought.

"And that's what we tell Daryl?" Dale questioned, "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you? Word to the wise….we're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran," T-Dog admitted, "I'm not ashamed of it."

"We were all scared…we all ran…what's your point?" Andrea asked.

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time," he replied, "It's not enough to break through that…not that chain, not that padlock. My point…Dixon's alive and he's still up there, handcuffed on that root. That's on us."

'_He can stay up there for all I care,'_ I thought. My grandma always told me to never wish ill will on anyone…but this time I couldn't help but not care if Merle died up there on that roof top. At the time that what I felt he deserved.

THE NEXT MORNING

"Thanks for helping with laundry again," Carol said as I hung the laundry up to dry.

"It's no trouble at all, whenever you need some help just let me know," I replied.

"So about this Merle thing…" she started.

"I won't be the one to break the news to him," I said, "My grandparents taught me a lot when I moved in with them. House hold chores, farm work, hunting, cooking, and some very important things that you should live by. One of those things is that you need to own up to things that you have done…the good, the bad, and the ugly."

"They sound like good people," she said.

"They were amazing," I said, "The nicest people in the world…how they ended up with a junkie whore of a daughter I'll never understand."

There was a scream and everyone ran towards the sound.

"Mom!" Carl yelled.

"Carl?" Lori yelled back.

I grabbed my bow and arrows and raced towards the screams.

"It's over there!" someone yelled.

"Dad!" Carl yelled.

"Baby!" Lori yelled.

"Rick!" Glenn yelled.

I noticed Rick running down the small hill with a pole in hand.

"Carl! Baby!" Lori yelled again.

"Mom!" he yelled back.

"You okay?" Rick asked finally getting to him.

"I've got him," she said, "You okay? Nothing bit you?"

"No, I'm okay," he replied.

We then followed a slurping noise and came across a walker eating a deer carcass. When it sees us it turns to us and I raise my bow to shoot but I'm pushed out of the way and the guys begin to beat it with the object that they were carrying and Dale finished the job by chopping off its head.

"It's the first one we've had up here," Dale said, "They've never come this far up the mountain."

"Well they're running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim said.

We heard twigs snapping nearby and Daryl came out of the forest and looked at the walker with disgust.

"Oh, Jesus," Dale said.

"Son of a bitch. That's my deer! Look at it. All gnawed up by this…filthy, disease-bearing motherless poxy bastard!" Daryl growled before kicking the carcass of the walker.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping," Dale said.

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "on golden pond"? I've been tracking that deer for miles," Daryl said, by this point even more irritated then when he first arrived on scene, "Was gonna drag it back to camp, cook us some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

"I wouldn't risk that," Shane warned.

"Boy does venison chili sound good right about now," I said, staring at the deer, "Damn shame."

Daryl sighed. "It is a damn shame, but I got some squirrel…about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

Suddenly, the head of the walker started to chomped its teeth.

"Come on, people. What the hell?" he said, before shooting it with an arrow, "Its gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothin'." We all walked back up to camp and he threw the squirrles in the back of his truck. "Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

"Daryl, just slow up a bit I need to talk to you," Shane said.

"About what?" Daryl asked.

"About Merle…there was a…there was a problem in Atlanta," Shane replied trying to bring up the subject as cautiously as possible.

I stood not far away watching the situation. How the hell this was gonna end I had no idea, but however it was, I was gonna be there in case anything went down.

"He dead?" Daryl asked.

"We're not sure," Shane replied.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl snapped.

"There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick cut in.

"Who are you?" Daryl asked.

"Rick Grimes," he replied.

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal…he's still there."

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're sayin' you hand cuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!"

"Yeah…"

Daryl tried to attack him but he shoved him off.

"Daryl stop it!" I said, running over and grabbing the back of his shirt.

"Hey! Watch the knife!" T-Dog said as Daryl pulled out his hunting knife.

I got shoved out of the way and fell to the ground and looked up to see that Shane had put him in a chokehold.

"You'd best let me go!" Daryl growled.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't,"

"Choke hold's illegal."

"You can fil a complaint. Come on, man. We'll keep this up all day."

"You okay?" Lori asked, walking over and helping me up.

"I'm fine…not the first time I've been knocked around," I said.

"I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic," Rick said to Daryl, "Do you think we can manage that?"

"Hmm?" Shane asked.

"Yeah…" Daryl replied. Shane let him go and Daryl looked back at Rick.

"What I did was not on a whim," he said, "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault, I had the key…I dropped it," T-Dog cut in.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl asked.

"Well…I dropped it in a drain," T-Dog replied.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't…"

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I changed the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him, with a padlock…it's gotta count for something."

"Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him."

"He'll show you…isn't that right?" Lori asked looking at Rick.

"I'm going back," Rick said.

Lori walked into the RV and slammed the door shut.

'_Idiot…'_

Daryl turned and walked away from the group. He was pissed, I could see that…but for some reason my mind kept telling me to follow him.

"Daryl…Daryl wait," I said.

"What the hell do you want?" he snapped looking at me.

"I know that you are upset, but they are willing to help you…and I'll go too," I said.

"The hell you will," he said.

"Try and stop me," I said.

"You would go even after what he tried to do to you," he said, his voice low.

"You took care of me during a time that I was obviously vulnerable…and I need to repay the favor. You may not be in a vulnerable situation, but he's…your brother and right now, family is important," I replied.

"He sees women as ass, tits, and vaginas and thinks that they're only here for his needs and they ain't worth the time of day unless they're willin' to give him what he wants…" Daryl said, "You stood up to him and that angered him, but you're…well let's face it Jewels…you're hot."

"Jewels?" I questioned.

"Well Julianne is kinda long…," he said, "And your eyes…"

"My eyes?" I questioned.

"They look kinda like those blue diamonds," he said, "Ya know, those fancy ones on TV that all you chicks are crazy for….so Jewels."

"Hmm…no one's ever called me that before," I said.

"Guess what…it's your new nickname," he replied, "And you ain't comin' to Atlanta with us."

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	5. Van Helsing and Hawkeye

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

TRUCK RIDE

During the ride to Atlanta, Daryl kept looking into the back of the back of the truck at me. Each time he looked more and more pissed. And then finally:

"What the fuck is she doin' comin' with us?" he asked.

T-Dog who was currently holding a rag to his face glared at him. "I tried to stop her like you asked man…but she punched me…damn it, it think she broke my nose."

"You didn't believe me…" I said, "I think this is a lessoned learned for the future."

"What are you talkin' about?" Daryl asked.

"He said he had "strict" orders not to let me in the truck, and I said I'd like to see him try and stop me, and when he tried to, told him that if he tried that shit one more time he would get hurt, but he tried to stop me AGAIN, and…I punched him…and I then told him it would be worse next time," I replied.

Glenn tried to hide a laugh but didn't succeed very well at it and Rick looked at Daryl.

"Got your hands full with this one man…" he said.

"_We're not even dating!' _I thought, but really wanted to scream. Merle wasn't there and that point, and though it was nice having a man that actually looked out for me for once. It was also awkward cause wasn't really my boyfriend.

Daryl looked at me again and shook his head. "You…you…you and I are gonna have a long conversation."

"Yes, mom…" I said, rolling my eyes.

-Atlanta-

The truck finally arrived outside the city limits and hopped out of the truck.

"He'd better be okay," Daryl said.

"It's only my word on the matter," T-Dog said, "I told you the geeks can't get at him. The only thing that's gonna get through that door is us."

We walked along the railroad tracks and went through a fence, and it was time to make a decision.

"Merle first, or guns?" Rick asked.

"Merle! We ain't even havin' this conversation," Daryl snapped.

"We are," Rick said, before turning to Glenn, "You know the geography, it's your call."

"Merle's closest…the guns would mean doubling back…Merle first," Glenn replied.

We agreed and started to walk but Daryl grabbed my arm. "I want you to stay close," he whispered.

I sighed. "Daryl…I appreciate your concern, but I do know what I'm doing," I said, holding up my bow, "And…we aren't even really dating. I really _really_ appreciate you saving me from Merle, and that's why I'm here…but you don't need to act like I'm helpless and you have to watch over me."

He let go of my arm. "I get it…a guy like me watchin' over a girl like you."

"That ain't it at all Daryl…"

"No…no…I get it."

"You two comin' or not?" Rick called.

"Yeah," Daryl replied, walking off.

'_Shit…that didn't go at all as planned,'_ I thought.

We made our way to a big department store and I had to say I was pretty impressed. Even going to culinary school in the city I had never made my way to any of the department store. I was on scholarship anyway, so it's not like I really had the money to shop anyway, and I wasn't much of a window shopper.

"You are one ugly skank," Daryl said, as a female walker treaded through the lobby of the store. He shot an arrow at its head and then pulled it out.

We made our way up to the roof and cut the padlock and Daryl ran onto the roof. "Merle! Merle!" he yelled.

"Oh my god," I said the first one to see something on the ground.

"No! No!" Daryl yelled starting to sob, "NO!"

The handcuff was empty, but laying on the ground was Merle's hand. I had seen a lot of things since I grew up on a farm. We took our own animals out back to be killed when it was their time to go, we slaughtered our own livestock, and my grandpa taught me how to gut deer and boars. But a human hand that did not belong to that of a walker…that was something else for me.

Daryl suddenly turned his crossbow on T-Dog and he was ready to kill him and Rick pulled out his gun.

"I won't hesitate," Rick said, "I don't care if every walker in the city hears it."

Daryl realized that Rick was serious and lowered his cross bow. "You got a do-rag or something?" he asked T-Dog. T-Dog handed him the rag that he had been holding on his nose earlier and he pick up Merle's hand, wrapped it up, and stuck it in Glenn's backpack. "I guess the saw blade was too dull for the handcuffs…ain't that a bitch. He must have used a tourniquet…maybe his belt. Be much more blood if he didn't."

There was a blood trail and we followed it down off the roof,

"Merle? You in here?" Daryl called.

There were a couple of walkers in the office that we entered and Daryl and I took care of them.

"Nice shot," T-Dog said.

"Don't try and get on my good side," I said, "I don't have one right now…"

"Did something-," T-Dog started.

"No…" Daryl and I said, cutting him off.

"Oh boy…" Glenn commented.

"He had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches. One handed," Daryl said, pointing out the two walkers on the floor, "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Oooh the imagery," I grimaced.

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is," Rick stated.

We continued our search and came across a kitchen with a stove still lit.

"What's that burned stuff?" Daryl asked looking at the stove, where what looked like Merle's belt sitting on it.

I looked at that belt and everything around me started to phase out for a minute. _'That fuckin' belt…'_ I thought having a slight flashback to a few nights back,_ 'Nothing had actually happened, but he almost got that belt off…'_

"Hey…earth to Julianne…" someone said snapping their fingers in front of my face.

"Hmm?" I asked, seeing Glenn standing there looking concerned.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've seen a lot of things…someone cauterizing their own wound…that's not something you see every day," I lied.

"That didn't stop him from busing out of this death trap," Daryl said.

"He left the building?" Glenn asked, "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why the hell wouldn't he? He's out there alone as far as he knows, doing what he's got to do…surviving," Daryl replied.

"You call that surviving? Just wandering out in the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?" T-Dog said.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks. You couldn't kill him, ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard," Daryl snapped.

"What about 1,000 dead dumb bastards? Different story?" Rick asked.

"Why don't you take a tally, do what you want, I'm gonna go get him," he replied turning to leave.

"Daryl, calm down," I said grabbing his arm to try and keep him from leaving.

He slapped my hand away and looked down at me. "You don't get a fuckin' say in any of this got it! So back the hell off!"

"Hey man, don't take this out on her," Rick said trying to defuse the situation.

"She shouldn't even be here," Daryl snapped, looking at Rick, "She ain't even my girlfriend." He looked back at me. "There…you happy, I said it."

"Um…" Glenn started, "I'm confused."

"Merle was layin' it on a bit too thick, but he wouldn't if he thought she was my girl," he said, "Get it…obviously that didn't mean much." He tried to leave again but this time Rick stopped him.

"Daryl, wait," he said.

"Get your hands off me! You can't stop me," Daryl said.

Rick looked from me to Daryl but then decided to take the high road. "I don't blame you. He's family, I get that. I went through hell to find mine. I know exactly how you feel. He can't get far with that injury, we could help you check a few blocks around but only if we keep a level head."

Daryl gave me a look but then nodded. "I could do that."

"Only if we get those guns first, I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?" T-Dog said, "Especially with Van Helsing and Hawkeye here on the verge of killing each other."

"I'm perfectly fine," I said.

"Juuuuust peachy," Daryl commented.

After that we started to make a plan to get the guns.

"You're not doing this alone," Rick said.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you very much," Daryl agreed.

"It's a good idea," Glenn said drawing a map on the floor, "Just hear me out. If we go in a group, we're slow, drawing attention. If I'm alone, I can move fast. The tank is five blocks from where we are no. that's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first me. That's where Daryl and I will go."

"Why me?" Daryl asked.

"Your cross bow is quieter than his gun, while you wait here in this alley, I'll run up the street and grab the bag," he replied.

"I can help," I said.

"Julianne…I don't know about that, I barely made it out of here when I was here the first time," Rick said.

"I don't mean running the streets," I said, "If I remember right this building right here…" I pointed to a 'building' on the map. "Is shorter than the others, while you run down the street, I'll shoot down any walkers that get near Glenn. I have a lot more arrows than Daryl and it would be good to have an eye in the sky, so to speak."

"Alright…" Rick said, "But any trouble and you get out of there."

"I've been doing that since the outbreak started…it ain't an issue for me," I stated.

"By the way Kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked Glenn.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?" he asked.

"Explains knowing the layout of the city like you do," I commented.

After a few more minutes of coordinating we headed out and I parked myself up on the roof top and was at the ready with an arrow.

Glenn ran out into the street and walkers started to converge on him and I took head shot after head shot. Then two tried to get him; _'I don't think so…'_ I thought, holding two arrows up to shoot and letting them fly.

WHAP

Head shot. _'Damn I'm good,' _I thought.

Next thing I know these Latino guys have got a hold of Glenn. "What the hell?!" I took off and got down to the street a car was speeding off.

"Come back here, you sumbitches!" Daryl yelled. He grabbed the gate and shut it before the walkers could get at us and then he grabbed the asshole that had gotten left behind.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop it," Rick said as him and T-Dog ran over.

"I'm gonna kick you nuts up in your throat!" Daryl yelled at the guy.

The guy looked at me like I would be some kind of help and I just shrugged my shoulders. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Let me go!" the kid said.

"Chill out," T-Dog said.

"They took Glenn, that little bastard and his little bastard homie friends. I'm gonna stomp your ass!" Daryl yelled.

The kids once again looked at me. "Why ya keep lookin' at me? I think that's just a grand idea…unless you'd rather me cut off your penis and feed it to ya."

"Guys…guy! We're cut off here and the geeks are getting' antsy!" T-Dog said.

"Get to the lab. Go!" Rick said.

"Come on. Damn, let's go," Daryl said, pushing the kid to make him walk.

After we got to the building the interrogation of the kid (whose name is apparently Miguel) began.

"Those men you were with, we need to know where they went," Rick said.

"I ain't tellin' you nothin'," Miguel spat.

"I told you, this little turd and his douche bag friends came out fo nowhere and jumped me," Daryl said.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to gind hos brother like it's my damn fault," Miguel said.

"They took Glenn, could have Merle too," Daryl said.

Miguel let out a chuckle. "Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl went to kick him, but Rick held him back.

"Damn it, Daryl. Back off!" Rick said.

"But you know I might be more inclined to talk if…" Miguel stopped and look at me and smirked, "If me and that sweet thing right there can have a few minutes alone….what you ya say lil' mama?"

This time Rick couldn't stop Daryl and he kick Miguel square in the ribs. "She says no."

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	6. Glenn, Guns, the Elderly?

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"Then you can forget about findin' you friend," Miguel said.

Daryl reached into Glenn's backpack and pulled out Merle's hand. "Want to see what happened to the last guy who pissed me off?" he asked showing Miguel the hand. He freaked and started to back away. "I say we start with the feet this time."

Rick grabbed him and held him back and then he looked at Miguel. "The men you were with took our friend. All we want to do is talk to them, see if we can work something out."

'_Like that's gonna work,'_ I thought.

After a bit of badgering we ended up at the Glenn-nappers hideout.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know," Daryl said.

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass and shove it up yours, just so you know," Miguel retorted.

"G?" Rick asked.

"Guillermo. He's the man here," Miguel said.

"Okay then…let's go see Guillermo," he said.

We got to the hide out and a man (I was guess was this Guillermo dude) walked out and looked out at Miguel. "You okay, little man?"

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal," Miguel replied.

"Cops do that?" Guillermo asked, looking at Rick's Sheriff's uniform.

"Not him. This redneck puto here," Miguel replied, "He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up," Daryl said.

Suddenly another man came out of the building and pointed a gun at Daryl. "Hey, that's that Vato right there, homes. He shot me in the ass with an arrow. What's up, homes, huh?"

I let out a laugh. "You shot him in the ass with an arrow? How did I miss that shit?"

"Shut up, bitch!" the man said.

"Chill, ese, chill. Chill," he said before looking back at Miguel, "This true, he wants your feet…that's sick man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion," Rick said.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me," Guillermo said.

"Heat of the moment," Rick stated, "Mistakes were made on both sides."

"Who's that dude to you anyway? You don't look related…" Guillermo said.

"He's one of our group, more or less. I'm sure you have a few like him," Rick replied.

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl asked.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white buys….but I've got Asian, you interested?" Guillermo replied.

"I have one of yours, you have one of mine…sounds like an even trade," Rick said.

"Don't sound even to me," Guillermo stated.

"G. Come on, man," Miguel all but whined.

"My people got attacked. Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?" he asked.

"Guns?"

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going bat to get…that bag of guns."

"You're mistaken."

"I don't think so."

"That bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take upir word? What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now and I take what's mine?"

"You could do that…or not," Rick said indicating to the wall where T-Dog was pointing a sniper rifle at Guillermo.

"Oye," Guillermo said and on the roof two men appeared holding Glenn.

"Shit…" I mumbled.

"I see two options…you come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood," Guillermo said before walking back into the hideout.

We went back to the building we started at and Rick started to divide up the guns.

"Them guns are worth more than gold. Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table…your gonna give that up for that kid?" Daryl asked.

"If I knew we'd might get Glenn back, I might agree. But you think that Vato across the way is just gonna hand him over?" T-Dog asked.

"You callin' G a liar?" Miguel asked.

"Are you part of this? You want to hold onto your teeth?" Daryl asked slapping him.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?" T-Dog asked.

"Of course you can't," I said, "The prize today were the guns…and we got in the way and now that he has leverage over us, he'll use it to the best of his ability."

"She's right," Daryl said, "Now the question is what are you willing to bet on those words? Could be more than them guns. Could be your life…Glenn worth that to you?"

"What life I have I owe to him. I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank," Rick replied, "He could have walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I."

"So you're gonna hand the guns over?" Daryl asked.

"I didn't say that," Rick replied, "There's nothing keeping you three here. You should get out, head back to camp."

"And tell your family what?" T-Dog asked.

"That he's an idiot," I replied.

"Come on, this is nuts. Just do like G says," Miguel cut in.

We all ended up back at Guillermo's hideout and Rick pushed Miguel through the door.

"I see my guns, but they're not all in the bag," Guillermo said.

"That's because they're no yours…I thought I mentioned that," Rick said.

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese. All right? Unload on their asses, ese, "Felipe said.

"I don't think you fully appreciate the gravity of the situation," Guillermo said.

"No, I'm pretty clear," Rick said as he cut Miguel loose, "You have your man, I want mine.

"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs. They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale. I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully dead?" Guillermo said.

"No, my hearing's fine. You said come locked and loaded," Rick said and we cocked our guns at Guillermo and his crew, "Okay then, we're here."

"Felipe! Felipe!" we heard a small voice call.

"Abuela, go back with the others…now," Felipe said.

"You should really keep your grandmother somewhere other than need where she can get shot," I said, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl said.

"Abuela, listen to you mijo, okay? This is not the place for you right now," Guillermo said.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing. He needs his asthma stuff," the old woman said, "Carlitos didn't find it. He needs his medicine."

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay? And take your grandmother with you," Guillermo said.

"¡Abuela! Ven conmigo por favor," Felipe said.

"And who are these men and lovely young lady?" she asked.

"Por favor, ven conmigo," Felipe repeated.

"Don't you take him," she said to Rick.

"Ma'am?" he asked.

"Felipe's a good boy. He has his trouble but he pulls himself together…we need him here," she continued.

"Your uniform," I whispered.

"Oh…Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson," Rick said.

"Then what do you want him for?" she asked.

"He's…helping us find a missing person. Fella named Glenn," Rick replied.

"The Asian boy?" she asked, "He's with Mr. Gilbert. Come. Come, I'll show you." She took Rick's hand and started leading him through the other men. "He needs his medicine…"

"Let 'em pass," Guillermo said.

We followed the old woman to what looked to be a nursing home were a lot of elderly and sick patients were staying.

"Abuela, por favor. Take me to him," Felipe said to her.

"They're not just protecting themselves," I said, as we continued to follow the old woman all the way to an old gymnasium, "They're trying to protect them."

An elderly man in the gymnasium was having trouble breathing and Felipe rushed over to help him along with…Glenn.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked.

"An asthma attack," Glenn replied, "He couldn't breathe all of a sudden."

I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man," T-Dog said.

We heard a whine and looked over to a small done bed where two small Chihuahuas sat.

"Yup…those are definitely man eaters," I said, "Adorable little man eaters."

Rick turned to Guillermo. "Can I have a word with you? You're the dumbest son of a bitch I ever met…we walked in there ready to kill every last one of you."

"Glad it didn't go down that way…"

"If it had, that blood would be on my hands."

"Mine too. We'd have fought back. Wouldn't be the first time we've had to. Protect the food, the medicine…what left of it. These people, the old ones…the staff took off, just left 'em to die. Me and Felipe we the only ones who stayed.

"What are you, doctors?"

"Felipe's a nurse…a special care provider. Me, I'm the custodian.

"What about the rest of your crew?"

"The Vatos trickle in to check on their parents, their grandparents. They see how things are and most decide to stay. It's a good thing too. We need the muscle. The people we've encountered since things fell apart, the worst kind…plunderers, the kind that take by force."

"That's not who we are."

"How what I supposed to know? My people got attacked and you show up with Miguel hostage….appearances."

"Guess the world changed," T-Dog said.

"No…it's the same as it ever was. The weak get taken. So we do what we can here," Guillermo said, "The Vatos work on those cars, talk about getting the old people out of the city, but most can't get to the bathroom by themselves, still, it keeps the crew busy, and that's worth something. So we barred all the windows and we wait…the people here, they all look to me now. I don't even know why."

"Almost makes me happy that my grandparents ain't around to see this," I said.

"They in a home?" Guillermo asked.

"No…but my grandfather's health had been failing, and he wouldn't have lasted long," I said, looking around the room, "You're doin' a good thing here."

After a little while Rick took the guns and divided them up 50/50. Before we left.

"You gave away half our guns and ammo," Daryl complained.

"Not nearly half," Rick said.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off anyhow? Seriously, how long you think they got?" he asked.

"Jesus, Daryl have some respect will ya," I snapped, "We don't even know how long we'll last out here and just cause your upset that we didn't find Merle don't mean you can go 'round disrespecting the elderly."

"Well we would have a lot more ammo if this jackass didn't go and-,"

"Oh my god…" Glenn said cutting him off.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl asked looking around.

"We left it right there, who would take it?" Glenn asked.

"Merle…" Rick said.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp," Daryl said.

"This is not good, this is not good at all," I said.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	7. A Different Daryl

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

We ran back to camp as fast as we could as got there around dusk to hear gunshots and screams.

"Oh my god," Rick said.

"Go! Go!" Glenn yelled.

We ran into camp and helped finish off the walkers. "Dale, duck!" I yelled. He ducked down and a sent an arrow to the walker that had been behind him. After a few more minutes of fighting and getting walker blood all over my mostly clean clothes, the fighting subsided and we surveyed the damaged…and death.

"Huh…I have never managed this one before," I said, looking at the walking that was pinned to a tree, two arrows through its head.

"Would ya quit admirin' your work and get over here and help?" Daryl said.

"Yeah…" I said going over and starting to help move the bodies.

Daryl and I didn't say a word to each other and just began to move the bodies. Once morning came around what was left to do was burn the walkers and burying our lost friends. But there was also one little issue…

"Y'all can't be serious. Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb," Daryl said referring to Andrea's sister who was sadly killed during the walker attack. And at that point Andrea was not letting anyone take Amy away from her.

"What do you suggest?" Rick asked.

"Take the shot," he replied, "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No," Lori interrupted, "For god's sake, let her be."

"I actually agree with him," I said, "The way Andrea is right now, she's putting us all in danger by not taking the shot will Amy is still…Amy for the most part."

"Leave her be…Amy is all she had left," Lori said, before walking off to find Carl.

"Whatever man," Daryl said, going back to moving bodies.

Him and Morales started to move the body of one of our comrades towards the fire but Glenn stopped them.

"What are you doing? This is for geeks. Our people go over there," he said.

"What's the difference? They're all infected," Daryl said.

"Our people go in that row over there," Glenn said, "We don't burn them! We bury them. Understand? Our people go in that row over there."

'_Trying to keep some sort of normalcy is good I guess…but I don't know about the burying of the bodies,'_ I thought as Morales and Daryl moved the bodies again, _'Burning the bodies makes sure the problems is completely taken care of.'_

"Jewels!" Daryl yelled, "Don't just stand there, get your ass over here and help, would ya'? Damn woman."

"Jewels?" Glenn asked.

I ignore him and walked over and helped move the bodies to the respective rows. "They left my brother for dead, they had this comin'," Daryl mumbled.

"That's not fair Daryl…" I said, "Everybody lost someone in one way or another."

He glared at me.

"Don't give me that look," I said, "I know you're pissed at me and everyone else, but just suck it up and deal with it. You're a part of this camp too."

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim!" Jacqui yelled.

We dropped the body we were holding and ran over.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim said.

"Show it to us, show it to us," Daryl said.

"Easy, Jim," Shane said.

"Grab him," Daryl said.

Jim picked up the shovel off the ground.

"Jim, put it down, put it down," Shane said.

T-Dog grabbed Jim from behind and held him.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim said in a pleading told.

Daryl lifted up his shirt and revealed a deep bit mark on his stomach.

"That right there ain't okay," I said looking at the wound.

"I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim repeated.

-Later-

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head and the dead girl's hand be done with it," Daryl said.

"Is that what you'd want if it were you?" Shane asked, looking slightly disgusted.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it," he replied.

"I hate to say it…I never thought I would…but maybe Daryl's right," Dale said.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog," Rick said.

"I'm not suggesting…" Dale started.

"He's sick. A sick man. We start down that road, where do we draw the line?" Rick asked.

"That line was crossed as soon as this outbreak occurred," I said, "Once someone gets bitten, it's a matter of time before they are that animal, before they are that rabid dog, and if you don't take 'em out back and take care of 'em, your next."

"Exactly, the line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers," Daryl agreed.

"What if we can help him? I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure," Rick said.

"I heard that too," Shane said, "Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

"What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?" Rick said.

"What if they are and they say, "screw you, we're safe here" and then we're still stuck on our own," I said, "The government helps no one."

"Yeah…and it's a big stretch that C.D.C. is even up and runnin'," Shane added.

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs, wouldn't they?" Rick questioned, "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection…"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too, okay?" Shane started, "Now if they exist, they're at the army base. Fort Benning."

"That's 100 miles in the opposite direction." Lori said.

"That's not far enough away in my opinion," I mumbled, feeling slightly nauseous with Fort Benning being brought up.

"That's right, but it's away from the hot zone," Shane said, "Now listen to me, if that place is operational, it'll be heavily armed. We'd be safe there."

"The military were on the front lines of this thing…they got overrun. We've all seen that. The C.D.C. is out best choice and Jim's only chance," Rick argued.

"You go looking for asprin, do what you need to do," Daryl said, picking up the pickaxe, "Someone needs to have some balls to take care of this damn problem!" Headed towards Jim and Shane jumped in front of him.

"Hey, hey, hey!" he said.

Rick held his gun up towards Daryl. "We don't kill the living."

"That's funny coming from the man who just put a gun to my head," Daryl remarked.

I stepped in front of the gun. "Put the gun down Rick…this ain't gonna solve anything, none of what y'all are doing is going to solve anything at this point."

"She's right," Shane agreed, "We may disagree on some things, not on this…both y'all put your weapons down."

Daryl set the pickaxe down and walked off.

"Do something about him," Shane said.

I didn't reply and walked off. I wasn't going to get anything done by talking to Daryl at this point. He wouldn't listen, and plus he was pissed at me because of what happened back in Atlanta. So I set off to clean up all the garbage that was now laying around because of the fight.

"What? You ain't gonna follow me and tell me what an idiot I am?" I heard from behind me.

I turned and saw Daryl standing there with his arms crossed. "No…it wouldn't do any good anyway, plus…I think you're right."

"What?"

"This isn't a time where you can explore all your options the way your used to be able to…it ain't cancer or M.S. or TB or any other medical acronym you could possibly come up with," I said, "This is some alien black helicopter conspiracy theorist's dream of a super virus and we have no idea how to stop it. But we do know how to get ahead when the issue is right smack dab in front of us…and that is we kill before we get killed. One thing I do know…is I ain't goin' to Fort Benning. They decided to go there, everyone can kiss my ass goodbye."

"You done?"

"I don't know!"

"Well, when you're done with your…tirade…mind doing me a favor?"

"Oh….you want a favor? I tried doing you a favor and see how well that worked out! You yelled in my face in front of the guys and talked me down like I'm some kind of no good skank that can't survive out here without a man watchin' over her."

His jaw tightened and he looked away from me.

"Nuh uh, don't you look away when I'm talking to ya'. Back in Atlanta when I said that I didn't need you to act like I was helpless…I wasn't sayin' that I was better than you or than a guy like you shouldn't be watching out for me. Daryl, I'm used to tryin' to stand on my own two feet and when men try to help me with stuff, well I can do it myself, what can I say." He looked back down at me but still didn't say anything so I moved closer and put my hand on his arm. "You brought me to this camp, you saved me from your brother, you held me for god knows how long while I was sobbing my eyes out, and you protected me after…I really like that. What every guy _you_ think you are…obviously you're looking at a different Daryl than I am."

He looked at me before reaching up and putting his hand on the side of my face. "A different Daryl huh?"

"You'd be surprised how many sides there are to people," I said, skin tingling as his calloused fingers moved across my skin and back into my hair.

He back me up against a tree and I lost my breath for a moment as he pressed his body against mine. "I need you to do something for me," he whispered leaving kisses from my neck up to my ear.

At that moment I was like putty in his hands, so I just let out what almost sounded like a small "yes".

"We'll probably be leaving in the morning," he said, a hand sliding down and giving my ass a squeeze before he stopped all movements and looked down at me, "I need my stuff packed, you can leave Merle's shit, but I still need to move bodies, so if you could do that for me that would be great."

"I…I…" I tried to get out as he moved away.

"Thanks," he said and started to walk off.

"Asshole!" I snapped.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	8. Booyah!

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

THAT NIGHT

"I've been, uh…I've been thinking about Rick's plan," Shane started, "Now look, there are no…there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning."

"Okay?" Rick questioned.

I raised my hand.

"Yes…" Rick asked.

"C.D.C. right?" I asked.

"Yes…"

"Not Fort Benning?"

"Right."

"Oh thank god," I said putting my head on my knees.

MORNING

"Didn't think you'd really do it," Daryl said, throwing his crap in his truck, "You were pretty pissed when I left you at that tree."

I ignore him and threw my own stuff in his truck which I had drawn the short straw on riding with him in.

He chuckled. "Looks like I won't have to use the air conditioning with that cold shoulder that you're givin' me."

I got in the truck and slammed the door shut and not long after he climbed in as well. "Ya' that mad?"

"What do ya' think?" I questioned, "Ya' can't just do that to a girl."

"Well I did and ya' seemed to thoroughly enjoy it," he said leaning over and whispering in my ear, "Next time we'll have a bit more privacy, hmm?"

I rolled my eyes and moved my head away. Soon we were headed off down the road along with the others riding in complete silence, until he decided to break it.

"Why were ya' so against Fort Benning?" he asked.

"My father was stationed there," I replied, "We lived off base, but it's still bad memories."

"He beat ya'?"

"Put me through a plate glass window…that's how I ended up at my grandparent's farm, but yeah…he beat me. And no one I told did a damn thing about it."

"Bastard…"

"Yeah…and if Fort Benning is over run, no offense to Shane's big idea of a place that's safer than the C.D.C., I don't care if they're all dead," I said, "Teachers saw the bruises, MPs saw the broken arm, hell the JAG officer that played poker with my dad saw the bruises and no one did nothin' for me. They just let it happen…that JAG officer felt like the biggest asshole in the world though when he saw what my father did to me. When I was eight…it took 4 hours to get all the glass out of my skin…"

He was silent for a few minutes before speaking again. "My pops was an ugly drunk, he beat me and Merle. He mostly used his belt, but sometimes he'd use his fists too."

"I just don't get it…"

"Get what?"

"Parents are supposed to love their kids, and do anything to protect them…yet our fathers beat us…"

"We can't choose our parents," Daryl said, "But obviously you and I were dealt the shit hand when it came to fathers."

"No shit…"

Up ahead the RV started to smoke and we all pulled over to find out what was going on.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose," Dale said, aggravated, "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct tape that hose. And I'm out of duct tape." He replied.

"I see something up ahead," Shane said, "A gas station if we're lucky."

"Y'all, Jim…it's bad. I don't think he can take anymore," Jacqui said, stepping out of the RV.

"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what I can bring back," Shane suggested.

"I'll come along too and back you up," T-Dog said.

"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back," Shane said.

"Yippy skippy doo dah," I said.

Rick went to check on Jim and I headed back to the truck and leaned against it, staying in the shade of a tree.

"They finally deciding Jim's fate?" Daryl asked with amusement in his voice.

"The hose in the RV is busted, but yes, Jim is worse so they have to make a decision," I replied.

"I guess we have a few minutes to ourselves then-," he started, but got stopped by my hand covering his face and pushing him back slightly.

"No…" I said flatly.

He moved my hand. "Oh, you're no fun."

"And you're too much of a tease," I said, "Turning me on and then leaving me to pack your things."

He chuckled. "So you admit that I turned you on?"

"Shut up…"

"Looks like they've come to a decision," Daryl said.

Jim was being moved from the RV to sit by a tree and after everyone else said a good bye to him (including Shane and T-Dog who had shown back up), we were back off on our way to the C.D.C. again.

-C.D.C. Headquarters-

"Oh my god," I said looking at all the corpses laying around the headquarters, "I don't think we should be here."

"Hey, just stick close," Daryl said, "And you know what I mean and don't mean by that."

We got out of the truck and joined up with the rest of the group.

"All right, everybody," Shane whispered, "Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together."

"Keep moving. Come on," Rick whispered.

"Shh," Jacqui warned.

"Carol," Lori whispered.

"Shh," Shane warned this time.

"Oh, god," Glenn said.

When we reached the building it was completely locked down and there was no way to get in.

"Keep it together, come on," Shane said.

"We're almost there, baby. Almost there," Lori said, trying to comfort Carl.

Shane pounded on the door.

"There's nobody here," T-Dog said.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick asked.

"Automatic security system?" I thought out loud.

"Walkers!" Daryl yelled. We both raised our weapons and shot at the walkers. "You led us to a graveyard!"

"He made a call," Shane said.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl snapped.

"Just shut up. You hear? Shut up. Shut up!" he snapped back before turning to Rick, "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Jacqui asked.

"Do you hear me? No blame," Shane said.

"She's right," Lori agreed, "We can't be here after dark."

"Fort Benning, Rick…it's still an option," he said.

"Anywhere but there," I said, shooting at another walker.

"How are we gonna get to Fort Benning? We have no food and no fuel and its 100 miles away," Andrea said.

"125…I checked on a map," Glenn commented.

"Forget Fort Benning," Lori said, "We need answers tonight…now!"

"I fully agree with Lori, forget Fort Benning," I said.

"We'll think of something," Rick said.

"Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's go. Please," Shane pleaded.

"That camera…it moved," Rick said.

"You imagined it," Shane said.

"It moved. It moved," he said.

"Rick, its dead man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on," Shane said, starting to sound aggravated.

Rick slammed his hands on the doors.

"Rick, there's nobody here!" Lori yelled.

"I know you're in there! I know you can hear me!" Rick yelled towards the camera.

"Everybody, get back to the cars now!" Shane commanded.

"Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left," Rick continued to plead.

"Rick, there's nobody here." Lori said.

"We have nowhere else to go," he said pounding on the door, "Keep your eyes open…if you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please!"

"Come on, buddy, let's go. Let's go," Shane said to him.

"Please help us. You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!" Rick yelled before the rest of us turned to leave.

But just as we were about to leave the doors to the C.D.C. opened, shining a bright light on us.

"Daryl, Julianne, you cover the back," Shane said, as we entered the C.D.C.

"Hello?" a man over the intercom asked, "Anybody infected?"

"One of our group was," Rick replied, "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot theres days."

"I know."

"You all submit to a blood test…that's the price of admission."

"We can do that."

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now…once the door closes, it stays closed."

After a bit a man who introduced himself as Dr. Edwin Jenner appeared and led us through the C.D.C.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked.

"There were plenty lying around. I familiarized myself," Jenner replied, "But you look harmless enough." He then looked at Carl. "Except you, I'll have to keep my eye on you," he joked.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked once we stepped off the elevator.

"Are you claustrophobic?" he asked.

"A little," she replied.

"Try not to think about it," he said, "Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

There was some humming and beeping as the lights turned up in the room and a new voice appeared over the intercom. "Welcome to zone 5."

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked, "The doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it," Jenner replied, "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked.

"Vi?" he asked, "Vi, say hello to our guests…tell them…welcome."

"Hello, guests. Welcome," the…computer said.

"I'm all that's left," he said, before getting to the blood tests, "I'm sorry."

"What's the point? If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever," Andrea protested, even though she went along with the blood test anyway.

"I've already broken every rule in the book by letting you in here, let me at least be thorough," Jenner said, finishing up, "There, all done."

"Ooh," Andrea said, standing up but then looking like she was gonna fall over.

Jacqui grabbed onto her. "She hasn't eaten in days, none of us have."

Next thing we knew we were sitting around a table eating the best food and drinking the best alcohol we had had in a long time.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale said when Carl asked Lori if he could try some, "And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," Lori protested.

"Lori, at least he's askin' to take at least a sip in front of you instead of goin' behind your back and tryin' it," I said, chugging down the last bit of whiskey that I had in my glass and then Daryl filling it right back up, "This way, you know _what_ he's drinkin', and _who_ he's drinkin' it with."

"She's right you know," Rick agree, "And what's a little gonna hurt?"

Lori look half-amused half-not amused and finally she gave in.

"There you are, young lad," Dale said handing Carl a small glass of wine.

He took a sip and his nose wrinkled. "Eww."

"That's my boy. That's my boy, good boy," Lori said.

"Yuck, that tastes nasty," Carl said trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Just stick to your soda, there," Shane said with a chuckle.

"Not you, Glenn," Daryl said, taking a soda away from him.

"What?" Glenn asked.

"Keep drinking, little man. I want to see how red your face can get," Daryl replied.

The table burst out laughing and then Rick stood up.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly," he said.

"He is more than just our host," T-Dog said.

"Hear hear!" Dale said.

"Here's to you, doc. Booyah!" Daryl said raising his glass, before lowering his arm and resting it behind me on the back of my chair.

"Booyah!" some of the rest of us added.

"Thank you," Rick said.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	9. An Invitation

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_***Note: This chapter has smut in it ^_^ you have been warned. Enjoy!***_

"So when are you gonna tell us what the hell happened her, doc?" Shane said, interrupting the celebration, "All the other doctors that were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating, Shane," Rick said, "Don't do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here right?" Shane asked, "This was _your_ move…supposed to find all the answers. Instead we…" He stopped and let out a chuckle. "We found him. We found on man. Why?"

"Shane…you're making yourself look like an even bigger douchebag than you already are," I said, the alcohol letting my honesty flow, "We can get all the answers in the mornin'. When we're all sober, and less inclined to beat the crap out of you."

Jenner sighed. "Its fine, really…when things got bad, a lot of people just left. Went off with their families. And when things got worse, when the military got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door," Jenner replied, "They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave," Andrea said, "Why?"

"I just kept working," he replied, "Hoping to do some good."

"Dude, you are such a buzzkill, man," Glenn said.

"The buzz was killed as soon as Shane started talking," I said.

After we were done with our dinner Jenner showed us to where we could sleep for the night. "Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy, just don't plug in the video games, okay?" Jenner said, "Or anything that draws power. The same applies if you take a shower…go easy on the hot water."

"Hot water?" Glenn questioned.

"That's what the man said," T-Dog replied.

"I'm taking a shower," I said, heading into a room.

I removed my clothes and stepped into the shower, letting steaming hot water running down my skin before I turn down the heat so I didn't use up too much of the energy. The heat and steam from the shower seemed to slightly help clear my mind from the whiskey that I drank from dinner, but I knew that, that would only last momentarily. My mind then traveled to Daryl; how he had been treating me over the last well…day. He had yelled at me just the day before because he thought that I thought so low of him and now that he knew that I didn't, he was acting like he wanted to get in my pants.

I didn't mind it too much though. Daryl, I had to admit, is a very sexy man. And the fact that he protected me the way he did, just put the cherry on top. But the way that he acted, made me worry; I didn't want to get played. I had been played before and I haven't been able to maintain the best of relationships since. So when men try to get close, I put them away. But Daryl…there was something about him…just…something…

I finished washing myself up and stepped out of the shower and found a large C.D.C. shirt that I could use for the night and was thinking about heading straight to bed. But there when my mind, straight back to Daryl.

After a couple of minutes of just standing there I walked towards my door and peeked out before sneaking across the hallways and knocking on the door to the room I had seen him walk into.

"Yeah…" I heard him say.

"It's me," I replied.

"Come in," he answered.

I stepped in the room the room and saw him stretched out on the pull out couch, freshly showered, jeans unbuttoned, no shirt, reading an auto magazine. "I…just came to say goodnight," I said before quickly turning around, rethinking why the fuck I went to his room in the first place.

"No you didn't," he said, stopping me in my tracks. I heard the springs of the pull out creak and next thing I know, a hand appeared about me shutting the door then sliding down to turn the lock. "Ya' come to my room, wearing nothing but that over-sized t-shirt and your panties, legs showin' like this." His hand rested on my thigh and I took a sharp breath in. "You ain't sayin' goodnight Jewels," he whispered, moving my hair away exposing my neck, "I believe that's an invitation." He put his lips on my neck and softly kissed and he slid his hand to the inside of my thigh.

"Daryl…" I breathed. How could a man that I barely knew anything about make me feel so much ecstasy with just a few small movements?

He spun me around and pushed me up against the door, kissing from my neck up my jaw and stopping right next to my lips. I turned to kissed him and he moved his lips away just before I could.

"That's not fair," I said.

"Who said anything about fair?" he asked, hands sliding up my shirt. He got to my breasts and gave a squeeze.

"Damn it…" I said, reaching down and palming him in response to his actions.

He pushed my shirt over my head before his lips immediately found their way to one breast, his fingers teasing the other.

"D…Dar...Daryl…" I choked out.

How the hell was he doing this? He had bare started anything I felt myself becoming putty in his hands. He switched breasts and still I was standing there against the door, the fire in my belly that had started when he began, growing by the second.

He kissed up between the valley of my breasts, to my neck, teeth momentarily grazing my collar bone before he finally captured my lips with his. I could taste the whiskey that he had been drinking as our tongues fought for dominance. He wasn't the type of man that was gonna give up control that easily, but he had teased me long enough. When we broke apart for air he leaned his forehead against mine and smirked.

"What are you thinkin' with that little sly grin?" he asked with a chuckled.

I put my lips to his ear before giving it a small tug with my teeth. "I was thinkin' you aren't the only one that should be allowed to have some fun." I began to kiss down his jawline…lower…lower….lower…until I was on my knees. I could tell he was already hard even before I began to pull down his jeans and when I got his boxers down, I couldn't help but admire the view.

"Well…you gonna just stare, or you gonna do somethin'?" he asked.

"Ooooh, are we getting' antsy?"

"Just wantin' ya' to get to it…use those pretty lips of yours for somethin' other than sass."

"Keep it up and I might bite," I warned before leaning forward and running my tongue along the thick vein of his member before teasing the tip.

He stifled back a moan and I continued until finally putting him fully in my mouth. His hands slammed onto the door for support and his hips bucked forward slightly. I moaned and inwardly smirked and his breathing became more ragged and his hips started bucking more frequently. I started tasting his pre-cum and started to pull back a little not wanting to give him the satisfaction of cumming right that moment, but his hand stopped me from moving.

"Don't you…don't you dare stop right now…" he panted, "I'm…so close Jewels…"

He was almost begging…I liked that. So I continued sucking, and lightly grazing my teeth across the sensitive skin until he let out of moan and came in my mouth. Warm, salty liquid filling my mouth and running down my chin as he pulled out. I looked up at him and he was looking at me, out of breath but eyes still full of desire.

Before I even got a chance to comprehend what was happening next, I was in the being carried, to the bed in an ungraceful fireman's carry. Not romantic, but I had to remember this was Daryl.

_SMACK_

"You're too quiet," he stated, giving me a good smack on the ass before dropping me on the pull out. He stripped me of my underwear and leaned over me. "I want you…"

I wrapped one of my legs around his waist. "What are you waiting for?"

He pushed into me and immediately started pumping. "God, you're so tight," he said, pulling out and pushing back in as hard as he could manage.

"Oh, Daryl…" I moaned, wrapping my other leg around him pulling him closer. He was chest-to-chest with me now, slow, but hard pumps, making me feel like nothing else in the world mattered at that point.

The world wasn't ending…

We hadn't lost everything we loved…

We hadn't lost everyone we loved…

It was just me and him; the sound of pleasurable moans filling the room, skin against skin, nails raking skin, the animalistic nature that humans have baring its teeth right then and there.

"Jewels…" he whispered.

"Daryl…harder…," I said.

He didn't say anything and just moved harder and faster, bringing me near to my breaking point. "Oh god Daryl, I'm gonna…" I couldn't even get the words out because with one more hard thrust my walls tightened around him. Even after he came I continued to pump until he was completely spent and rolled off of me.

But I wasn't done with him. I climbed on top of him and lowering myself onto him. He moaned and moved his hands to my thighs, clutching almost as though he thought that I would suddenly disappear from him if he didn't. After a little while though, his hands soon started to wander and make their way up the curve of my body, past my breast and to my neck. He pulled himself up slightly and kissed me softly.

"How is it that you turn me on so much?" he questioned, lips barely leaving mine.

"Shh…don't talk," I whispered, continuing to move my hips in an even paced rhythm, "Close your eyes…" He did and I took his hands a placed them back at my sides.

"Now, Daryl Dixon…" I held back a moan when his hips suddenly bucked, "I want you to memorize every part of my body…you said you wanted me right?"

"Mmmm," he let out, his head resting on my shoulder.

"I want to _feel_ you everywhere, and know that you remember every last bit of my body," I whispered, a moan following as I started to reach my peak.

"You are going to regret those words…" he grunted, pushing me back onto the bed.

'_Oh, I hope so…'_ I thought.

_TO BE CONITUED…_

_***Okay, maybe not my best lemon, but it works…hope you enjoy!***_


	10. Daryl's Dilemma

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

_SMACK!_

"Whoever invented the alarm clock is both a savior and an idiot," I mumbled, after smacking the top of the alarm clock that was sitting on the end table. I carefully rolled back over into Daryl's chest. I had woken up an hour earlier, but I had stayed put do to my very comfortable position of being wrapped in his arms. Frankly, I didn't want to get out of bed…not yet anyway. Getting out of bed would mean rejoining the rest of the world, what's left of it anyway.

I reached up and gently ran my index finger across his bottom lip. _'Those lips were all over me last night,'_ I thought, my skin starting to tingle just at the thought of the night before.

"You just gonna stare at me?" he suddenly asked, opening an eye and looking down at me.

"I was thinkin' about it…that bother ya'?" I asked.

"Not one bit…but it looks like we have to get up and join the rest of them idiots," he said, letting out a sigh.

"Oh you sound so thrilled about that…"

He leaned back, putting his arm behind his head, and looked at me with a smirk on his face. "If I had a choice…I'd stay here all day with you…relivin' _all_ the things we did last night. But sayin' as there's a group of people out there who will be lookin' for us and wonderin' where we got off to…"

I was silent.

"What's that look for?"

"Just a couple of days ago we were fightin' with each other and then last night, we were all over each other…I'm just worried-."

"Heh, you don't have to worry 'bout that," he said, sitting up and looking down at me, "Was I angry, hell yeah…I felt like I had been rejected after I did what I did for ya'…but you drew me in either way and I'm here now, and I'm gonna protect ya'. I ain't gonna promise that I won't yell again, I got me a temper and I can't change that. Nothin' like my old man's, but still I got a temper…"

"What are you tryin' to say, Daryl?" I asked.

He leaned down and buried he head in my neck, kissing it. "That I'm one possessive sumbitch and you best believe that I'll hurt any man that tries to hurt ya'…now go shower…ya' smell like sex."

I pushed him away and laughed. "And whose fault is that?"

"Yours for comin' into my room the way ya' did last night…" he replied.

DARYL'S POV

Jewels grabbed her night shirt and pulled it on, a small groan slipping from her lips. I had warned her that she was gonna regret her words. I etched every inch of her body into my mind, and left some marks behind to prove it. Nothing that would stand out much…besides the hickey on her collar bone, but enough to leave her sore.

She made her way out of the room casting on last glance over her shoulder at me before leaving the room.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. _'Damn girl…getting' in my head, but man. The sex last night was amazin'. But damn, damn, damn. Those things I said to her…that ain't me…but I meant it.' _"God damn it…" I mumbled before grabbing my clothes and walking to the shower.

As the water ran over me I watched it run down the drain. _'There wasn't a damn girl like her in North Georgia…she can hunt, track, clean, from what I understand she can cook, she's amazin' in bed, and she's smart. If I had met her before all this shit…man, stop thinkin' like that.'_

I stayed under the water for a little while longer before stepping out and getting dressed. Stepping out into the hallway I saw Jewels doin' the same.

JEWELS' POV

"You look relaxed," Daryl said.

"I had nothing to worry about last night or this morning," I said smiling, "Of course I'm relaxed, now let's get some grub…I'm starvin'."

BREAKFAST

"Eggs. Powdered, but…but I do 'em good," T-Dog said, passing scrambled eggs around the table.

Glenn groaned, not doin' so hot from his hard night of drinking.

"Protein helps the hangover," Jacqui said.

Glenn groaned again and looked at me and Daryl. "How do you do it?"

"What?" we both asked.

"Drink so much…especially whiskey," he replied.

"Oh…um…I have a high tolerance," I replied.

Daryl chuckled. "Hard liquor, good for the soul…what are ya' starin' at Shane."

Shane scoffed and shook his head. "I think that girl of yours owes me an apology."

"Excuse me?" Daryl questioned.

"For what I said last night?" I cut in, remembering that the whiskey made my honesty spew out, "I meant it."

"What…" Shane said. He was obviously in a bad mood about something; if I had to take a guess it was that he had a fight with Lori. The scratches on his face weren't from falling as he would probably want people to believe, and it was obvious before Rick had reunited with her and Lori that Shane had been sleeping with her.

'_Guess he doesn't know when to let it go…'_ I thought. "I meant what I said…plus I think you are the kind of Doucheville, leader of the Douchebagarians, in the land of Douchebagary," I said.

He slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "You got a problem?!"

Daryl went to say something to Shane, but I cut him off getting in Shane's face. "No, but you obviously do…what is it Shane? Feelin' a little…_frustrated_?"

His jaw clenched as he scowled at me. "You need to watch yourself…"

"Or what? You ain't the king of nothin' 'cept your own ego," I said, "So don't go 'round actin' like you're _owed_ anythin'."

"Um…good morning…" Rick said, walking into the room, "Everything okay?"

"Perfect," Shane said, "We were just havin' a heated discussion, that's all…"

"My grandma did always say never to discuss _politics_ at the breakfast table…" I commented.

"Are you gonna sit back down or just stand there lookin' like you're about to kill each other?" Rick asked.

We both took our seats but every once and awhile continued to glare at each other. Shane and I weren't going to get along. I knew this was bound to happen; he had his head stuck so far up his ass that there was no getting it out.

"Where's all this come from?" Rick asked, looking at the small pile of pill bottles in the center of the table.

"Jenner," Lori replied, handing him an aspirin, "He thought we could use it….some of use at least."

"Don't ever, ever let me drink again," Glenn groaned.

Rick then looked at Shane. "You feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse…" he scowled.

"By the way, what the hell happened to your neck?" T-Dog asked Shane.

"Hmmm?" he replied.

"Your neck…"

"I must have done it in my sleep."

"Never seen you do that before," Rick said, puzzled.

"Me neither; not like me at all," Shane stated, looking straight at Lori.

"Um…Julianne?" Sophia said.

"Yes sweetie?" I questioned.

"Did you do that in your sleep too?" she asked.

My eyes shot open and my hand went to my neck. "Well sweetie, actually…I fell last night."

"More than once from what I heard," T-Dog mumbled.

"Yes, well…" I stopped and then pointed my fork at Sophia, "Let this be a life lesson Sophia…alcohol makes you clumsy as hell and it will be very embarrassing if people hear your clumsy-ness….your mother will tell you're a bit older…but, whiskey is not _your_ friend. Alright little lady?"

"Alright…" she said, completely confused at this point.

I heard snickering next to me and saw Daryl hiding his face in his hands laughing.

"Wait…I thought…" Glenn started.

"Oh, dude don't go there," T-Dog said, "What has been heard cannot be unheard, and I'll tell you right now, it wasn't just the whiskey talkin'."

"No…no it wasn't," Daryl said, with a stupid grin on his face.

"Morning," Dr. Jenner said walking into the room, thankfully switching the conversation off of me and Daryl.

"Hey, doc," Shane said.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…" Dale started.

"But you will anyway…"Jenner said, almost sourly.

"We didn't come here for there eggs," Andrea said.

-Computer Room-

"Give me playback of TS-19," Jenner said, as we entered the main computer room

"Playback of TS-19," Vi's automated, voice played over the speaker system.

"Few people ever got a chance to see this…very few," he said, as an image of all I could describe as a hi-tech MRI appeared on screen.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked.

"An extraordinary one…not that it matters in the end," he replied, with a sad distant look in his eyes, "Take us in for E.I.V." The 'video' sped up and lights began to move around the brain we were staring at.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"It's a person's life…experiences, memories; it's everything. Somewhere in all that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you…the thing that makes you unique…and human," he replied.

"Don't you make sense ever?" Daryl asked.

"Those are synapses, electrical impulses in the brain that carry all the messages…they determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death…"

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked.

Jenner stared at the screen for a second, his eyes darkening.

'_He knew this person,'_ I thought recognizing that look. It was grief; the same look that I carried with me after I lost my grandparents.

"Yes, or rather a playback of the vigil," he said.

"This person died?" Andrea asked, "Who?"

"Test subject 19, someone who was bitten and infected…and volunteered to have us record the process…Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"Scanning to first event," Vi said.

"What is that?" Glenn asked.

"It invades the brain like meningitis, the adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs…then death," Jenner replied, "Everything you ever were or ever will be…gone."

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked, looking at Carol.

"Yes," Carol replied sadly.

"We lost somebody two day ago…" Lori said, sensing Jenner's confusion, "And her sister…"

Jenner looked from Andrea back to the screen. "I lost somebody too…I know how devastating it is. Scan to second event."

"Scanning to second event," Vi said.

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute…seven seconds."

The brain that had gone dark once the patient had died, now lit back up, but not like it had before. The lights were a dark color and not as active as they were before.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori asked.

"No, just the brain stem, basically it gets them up and moving," he replied.

"But they're not alive?" Rick asked.

"You tell me," Jenner stated.

"It's nothing like before, most of the brain is dark," Rick said.

"Dark…lifeless…dead…"Jenner said, "The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part…that doesn't come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell, driven by mindless instinct." There was a gun shot and we all jumped.

"God, what was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head…didn't you?" Andrea asked.

"Vi, power down the main screen and the workstations," Jenner said.

"Powering down main screen and workstations," Vi said.

"You have no idead what it is, do you?" Andrea snarked.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal…" Jenner said, listing off the things it _could _be.

"Or the wrath of god," Jacqui commented.

"There is that…" he agreed.

"Great…it's either the work of god or a bad case of athlete's foot," I said, throwing up my hands, "That makes me feel so much better."

"Somebody must know something…somebody, somewhere," Andrea said.

"There are others, right? Carol asked, "Other facilities?"

"There may be some," Jenner replied, "People like me."

"But you don't know?" Rick asked, "How can you not know?"

"Everything went down; communications, directives…all of it. I've been in the dark for almost a month," Jenner replied.

"So it's not just here, there's nothing left anywhere? Nothing?" Andrea said, starting to have a meltdown, "That's what you're really saying, right?"

"Jesus," Jacqui mumbled.

"Man, I'm gonna get shit-faced drunk again," Daryl said.

"I'm right there with ya'," I said, scowling. Who could really tell whose fault this shit really was; was it a government experiment gone wrong, terrorists, just an ugly mutated virus that scientists couldn't take care of, or the modern day black plague that would pass and cause the survivors to have to rebuild society little by little.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…that clock…it's counting down," Dale said, speaking up, "What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators…they run out of fuel," Jenner replied.

"And then?" Rick asked, Jenner clamming up and not answering the question before leaving the room, "Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur," she replied.

"Decontamination…what does that mean?" Glenn asked.

"Exactly what it sounds like," I replied, "The C.D.C. is gonna 'clean up' after itself…"

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	11. You Don't Get to Play God!

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

After Jenner's little show and tell everyone went their separate ways; some went to find the generators, and others went back to the make-shift living quarters. Daryl and I were one of the one's that went back to the living quarters.

"C.D.C. shit was a fuckin' waste of time," he said, popping open a bottle of Smirnoff.

"Least now we know that there's no scientific help for us," I staring into the small mirror hanging on the wall, "Not that scientists were of much help to us in the first place..."

"Everybody's _enthusiasm_ seems to have disappeared, didn't it?" he asked, coming up behind me. He pressed his hips against mine and looked at me through the reflection. "Bet you and I could liven things up a bit."

"Are you tryin' to get me drunk, right after breakfast?" I questioned.

He looked at the bottle. "Sayin' as ya have a high tolerance for alcohol, I don't think one bottle of vodka would do."

I turned and looked at him, hips still pressed up against him. "So, stone cold sober…what would ya' do to me?"

He took a big drink from the bottle. "Depends _where_ we end up…"

I was about to say something when the lights in the room shut off. "What was that?"

"Don't know…"

I moved away from him and when and stood underneath the air vent, put my hand up and started jumping up and down.

"Woman, what on god's green earth are ya' doin'?"

"Not my fault I'm short," I said, "The air is off…"

He walked over and put his hand up near the vent. "It is…"

We walked out into the hall and saw everyone gathered, obviously noticing what we did, and Jenner walking down the hall with this defeated look on his face.

"Why is the air off?" Lori asked.

"And the lights in our room?" Carol added.

"What's going on? Why is everything turned off?" Daryl asked.

As Jenner walked past up he grabbed the Smirnoff bottle from Daryl and continued down the hall. "Energy use is being prioritized."

"Air isn't a priority?" Dale asked, "And lights?"

"It's not up to me…Zone 5 is shutting itself down," he replied, heading to the main computer room.

"Hey! Hey, what the hell does that mean?!" Daryl asked, following him, only to practically get blown off by Jenner. This made him angry, I could see it in his face. The contentment that he had in his eyes just a couple of minutes ago was gone and replace by anger. "Hey man, I'm talking to you! What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?"

"You'd be surprised," Jenner finally replied.

"Rick?" Lori asked as Rick and the other guys entered the computer room after their search for the generators.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second…that started as we approached the half-hour mark; right on schedule," he replied, taking another swig of alcohol before handing the bottle back to Daryl and then turning to Andrea, "It was the French."

"What?" she asked.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end…they thought they were close to a solution," he replied.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked.

"The same thing that's happening here; no power grid…ran out of juice," he replied, "The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"Let me tell you…" Shane started in, but Rick stopped him.

"To hell with it Shane. I don't even care," he said, "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

And alarm started blarring and we all starting looking around.

"30 minutes to decontamination," Vi stated.

"Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl asked.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick," Shane said, "Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!"

"Let's go!" T-Dog said.

There was some clangs and the door to the room slid shut.

"No…did you just lock us in?" Glenn asked, "He just locked us in!"

"We've hit the 30 minute window," Jenner said, to the computer he was in front of, "I am now recording."

"Carl," Lori said, pulling him towards her.

"Mom!" he replied, going to her.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl yelled going towards Jenner.

"Daryl!" I yelled, grabbing onto him

"You let us out of here!" he yelled.

"Calm down, man!" T-Dog said.

"You lying…" Daryl ripped out of my grasp and continued towards Jenner.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Shane said, stepping in front of him.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now!" Rick said.

"There's no point," Jenner argued, "Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things," Daryl snapped.

"That's not something I control…the computers do, I told you that once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again," he said, "You heard me say that. It's…better this way."

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asked, pointing to the clock. Jenner didn't answer.

I slammed my hands down on the top of the computer that he was sitting. "Damn it! Answer the man! What the hell happens in 28 minutes?!"

"Come on!" Daryl yelled.

"You know what this place is?!" Jenner snapped, "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever! In the event of a catastrophic power failure…in a terrorist attack, for example…H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent an organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?" Rick questioned.

"Vi, define," Jenner commanded.

"H.I.T.s…high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives, consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear," Vi began.

At that moment I felt sick to my stomach. This whole time that this outbreak had been happening I always expected that if I did die it would be because of my own stupidity, not paying attention to what I was doing, a walker, or another human just trying to survive. I was not expecting that my life would end in a fiery blaze.

I was suddenly grabbed and pulled into a firm, familiar chest. I looked up at Daryl as he held me close to him. The look in his bright blue eyes was that of a mountain lion ready to attack; he was looking straight at Jenner, and he was ready to kill him.

"The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5000° and 6000° and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired," Vi finished.

"It sets the air on fire," Jenner said, looking far off, "No pain…"

I felt a light pat on the top of my head before Daryl let me got and stomped over to it, throwing the vodka bottle at it. "Open the damn door!"

"Out of my way!" Shane said walking towards the door with two axes, "Daryl!" He tossed Daryl an axe and they start pounding away at the door.

"You should've left well enough alone," Jenner said, "It would've been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori asked.

"All of you…you know what's out there," Jenner replied, "A short, brutal life and an agonizing death." He then looked at Andrea. "Your…your sister…what was her name?"

"Amy," she replied.

"Amy," Jenner whispered, before turning to Rick, "You've seen it. Is that really what you wwant for your wife and son?"

Rick went to say something, but I cut him off. "It doesn't matter what one person wants! It doesn't matter what two people want!" I yelled, "YOU DON'T GET TO PLAY GOD!" I grabbed to closest coffee mug and threw it at him. He barely dodged it.

"Come on lil mama, calm down," T-Dog said, grabbing me and holding me back.

"You don't get to decide whether or not life is easier for us if we opt out!" I screamed trying to kick away from him, "We did not come this far…we did not fight this long, to opt out like you and your sorry ass buddies!"

"Can't make a dent," Shane said, talking about the door. But I almost felt the same as I looked at Jenner. He didn't care at this point. He didn't care if he died and he took us all down with him.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher," Jenner commented.

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl said, going at him with the axe.

"Whoa! Whoa! Daryl! Daryl! Just back up! Back up!" T-Dog yelled, letting me go and now trying to hold him back.

Jenner looked at Rick. "You do want this…last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everyone you loved was dead."

"What? What? You really said that?" Shane asked, "After all your big talk?"

Rick shrank back a little, looking a bit guilty. "I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?"

"There is no hope," Jenner said, "There never was."

"Shut the hell up!" I snapped, "Ya' know, for a man of science, ya' really are an idiot!"

"Exactly," Rick agreed, "There's always hope, maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere…"

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea asked.

"Just because you lost your grief stricken ass, wants to believe that there ain't nothin' left out there, just cause you lost your sister," I said, getting in her face, "You ain't the only one that lost people, that got left behind…quit whinin', this man is tryin' to play god. You wanna die…" I stopped and pulled the gun I had been carryin' with me since we left the camp and put it in her head. "Put a bullet in your goddamn head…but I ain't lettin' someone else decide my own fate."

Dale snatched the gun away from Andrea. "Julianne, that's not fair."

"Listen to your friend," Jenner said, "She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction."

"Only if you let it be!" I snapped.

"This isn't right," Carol cried, "You can't keep us here."

"One tiny moment…a millisecond…no pain," Jenner said.

"If that's supposed to make us feel better it don't!" I said.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this," Carol said.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?" he asked.

I grabbed my gun back from Dale and held it towards Jenner. "How 'bout I put a bullet in your brain, hmm? How's that sound?"

"Julianne…no," Rick said.

"Rick! We will never get out of here!" I said.

"This is not the way to do this!" he said, "Think…just think…he dies, we all die."

DARYL'S POV

Jewels was pissed; the vein on her arm pulsed as she held the gun tryin' her best from blowin' Jenner's head off right then and there.

"He ain't worth it Julianne," Rick said, puttin' his hand on her forearm, trying to calm her.

"I ain't dyin' here!" she yelled, "Rick, I ain't dyin' here! I…I…" She stopped, the gun shakin' in her hand. "I made a promise, and I plan to keep it!"

'_A promise?'_ I questioned myself.

"That's alright hon, that's alright…but here's the thing," Rick looked at Jenner, "I think he's lyin'."

"What?" Jenner asked.

"You're lying about no hope. If that were true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out…you didn't. You chose the hard path, why?" Rick asked.

"It doesn't matter," he said.

"It does matter…it always matter," Rick said, "You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to. I made a promise…to her…my wife," Jenner said.

"Test subject 19 was your wife?" Lori asked.

Jewels lowered her gun slightly. "I knew it…I knew from the look on your face, that you knew that test subject."

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could," he said, "How could I say no?"

Jewels lowered her gun the rest of the way and just stared at him, lookin' like she just got hit by a ton of bricks. I turned back to the door and continued to hack away at it. We were gonna get outta here. We weren't gonna die in this shit hole.

JEWEL'S POV

"She was dying. It should have been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anything," Jenner started to confess, "She was a loss to the world…hell she rant this place. I just worked here. I our field, she was an Einstein. Me? I'm just…Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"Your wife didn't have a choice," Rick said, "You do. That's…that's all we want…a choice, a chance."

I looked over at Daryl who continued to hack away at the door. Sweat ran from his forehead to his neck, disappearing underneath his shirt. Right this moment I had so much running through my head at that moment that I wanted nothing more than to have the strong arms that was swinging that axe pinning me down, holding my hips, making me forget that anything else even existed.

"Let us keep trying as long as we," Lori pleaded, bringing me back to reality.

"I told you topside's locked down, I can't opened those," Jenner said, before finally opening the door.

"Come on!" Daryl yelled.

"Let's go! T-Dog added.

"Come on, let's go," Shane added as we all ran out of the room.

"We're gonna get out of here, Sophia," Carol said, trying to calm her.

We ran to the front doors, Jacqui, Dale, and Andrea not following behind. "Get them doors open! Come on!" T-Dog yelled.

"It doesn't work!" Glenn said as he and T-Dog pushed on the doors.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" T-Dog said, trying the key pad, "Try it! Try it now!"

"Come on! Come on!" Shane said, rushing towards the glass window, "Daryl!" Him and Daryl slammed the axes into the window but with no luck.

"Time's almost up!" Glenn warned.

T-Dog ran at the window with a chair, but as expected, nothing happened.

"Dog, get down! Get down!" Shane said pulling out a shot gun and taking a shot at the window.

Nothing…

"Jesus…" Daryl mumbled.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked.

"Rick, I have something that might help," Carol said, digging in her purse.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it," Shane said.

"Shut it, Shane," I said.

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket," she said, handing Rick a grenade.

"Thank you," Rick said, going to the window.

"Look out!" T-Dog yelled.

"Oh shit!" Daryl said, throwing me on the ground and covering me.

BOOM

I saw shattered glass roll past me and I looked behind me.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Never better," he said, getting up and pulling me with him, "No let's get the fuck out of here."

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	12. I Won't Let Them Give Up

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

The ride away from the C.D.C. was almost peaceful. Daryl and I were now on his brother's motorcycle ahead of the rest of the group, heading down a long stretch of highway. Dale and Andrea had made it out okay. From what I overheard Dale pulled a sort of guilt trip on her and I knew we were all gonna hear about that later from her. But right now, my focus was on the road.

My rested on Daryl's thighs as we made our way down the highway, my hands gripping to his jeans when we went around curves. It was my first time on a motorcycle, and even though just the night before I had put my hands on every part of that man's amazing body. In that moment I didn't; it wasn't a lie when that the first thing I thought of when he said "hop on" and patted the spot behind him was in the movies where the good girl goes for a ride with the bad boy. But I wasn't about to wrap my arms onto him and lean myself into him; those were the movies…this was Daryl Dixon. And I wasn't about to put the good time we spent together I jeopardy by cuddling up to him.

The bike slowed as we came up on a stretch of highway littered with abandoned cars. We went up a little further and then Daryl turned around and pulled up next to the RV.

"See a way through?" Dale asked.

Daryl looked back behind us and then back at Dale before nodding and slowly leading him through the maze of cars.

I heard some clanging and sputtering behind and turned to see white smoke coming from the RV. I patted Daryl's side and he looked in his side mirror before coming to a stop. We walked back to the RV to see a clearly agitated Dale.

"I said it, didn't I say it? A thousand times, dead in the water," he complained.

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—," Dale started.

"Okay that was dumb, if you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane said with a sigh.

Daryl popped open the back of a station wagon and began to rummage through it. "There's a whole of bunch of stuff we can find."

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start," T-Dog volunteered.

"Maybe some water," Carol said.

"Or food," Glenn added.

"This is a graveyard," Lori said, looking around with concern, "I don't know how I feel about this."

"Try not to think too much on it…" I said.

"Come on, y'all. Just look around, gather what you can," T-Dog said.

We all started rummaging through cars, Glenn looking for a new radiator hose for the RV, Daryl and T-Dog siphoning gas, Carol and Lori sticking together (the kids not far out of their view), and I was looking for anything that might spark my interest to me.

"Oh yeah," I said picking up a pair of boots, "Mama hit the clothing jackpot." There was a suitcase full of clothes, relatively my size. I pulled out a pair of jeans and looked around before slipping out of the ratty pair that I was wearing and slipping into this "new" pair.

DARYL'S POV

I helped T-Dog start siphoning the gas from the abandoned cars while the others looked for supplies.

"Oh yeah," I heard, Jewels say, "Mama hit the clothing jackpot."

After T-Dog and I finished with the car we were siphoning, I turned to see what she was up to and saw her pulling on a pair of jeans. Her ass gave a nice little shake as she wiggled her hips to pull up the jeans in an attempt to pull up the jeans over her tight boy cut panties. And that apple shaped birthmark; I had paid close attention to the birthmark that sat just above her panty line. I knew every part of her body, every smell, every scar, and being behind her for a good fifteen minutes…I got well acquainted with that birth mark.

"Daryl," T-Dog said, standing up from the car, "Got as much as I could from this car…we can go to the next one."

"Huh…yeah…" I said, looking away from Jewels who finally got her pants up all the way.

JEWELS' POV

'_I hope he liked the show,'_ I thought, buttoning the jeans. I had seen Daryl look over and had decided to give a little extra but wiggle as I had pulled up my jeans. If he was gonna stare, might as well make it worth his while.

I started shoving other clothes from the suitcase into my bag and saw a bra strap and hope that it was something that I could wear. Carol had to fix my bra a few days back so I didn't know how much longer this one was gonna last.

I picked up the bra and looked from it to my chest and then back again. "Poor girl had small boobs," I said, sigh and looking at my DDs. _'I'll never find me a new bra…'_

Suddenly I was grabbed.

"Ah-," I started but a hand slapped down over my mouth.

"Shh…shh," Daryl said, pushing me to the ground and rolling me under the car, "Stay quiet and stay put."

I nodded and he ran off and after about a minute I realized why he had pushed. There was a "herd" of walkers going past. It was a good five, ten minutes before the walkers finally past…for all I know it could have been a shorter amount of time, but in that situation, time drags on.

I saw pair of work boots and then Daryl crouched down. "We got a problem out here…"

I crawled out from underneath the car to see a very distressed looking Carol. "What happened?"

"Sophia got out from under the truck over there, walkers saw her, went after her, then Rick went after 'em."

"Great…"

A WHILE LATER…

"Sure this is the spot?" Daryl asked as me and him both inspected the area where Rick had said he had left Sophia before he drew the walkers off.

"I left her right here…I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek," Rick replied.

"Without a paddle…seems where we've landed," Daryl remarks.

"She was gone by the time I got back here. I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder," Rick said.

"I got some small footprints right here," I said, walking slowly in the direction she was going, "She started up that way and-." I stopped when Glenn was right in front of me.

"Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side?" Daryl said, seeing Glenn in my way, "You're muckin' up the trail."

"As much as I agree with you Daryl, just to be clear…short round was from Japan," I said, "Glenn is Korean."

Glenn just blinked at me.

"Indiana Jones fan," I said, "Don't judge…I'm a movie buff."

"Assuming she knows her left from her right…" Shane started.

"She understood me fine," Rick argued.

"Kid's tired and scared, man. She had her a close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck," Shane said.

"Jewels is right about the prints," Daryl said, coming and standing next to me, "And she did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back. She couldn't have gotten far."

"You'd be surprised," I mumbled thinking back to some of the kids who got lost while hiking in the wooded areas around Jefferson, Georgia where I grew up after I went to live with my Grandparents. My granddaddy was a man of many talents, one of them being that he was part of the volunteer search and rescue team. Because of his way with animals he actually train some of the dogs that they used for the searches (Bloodhounds, Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Australian Shepherds). Kids who went missing in the wooded areas could be found miles away from where their friends and family members last saw them in a matter of hours. They think they're gettin' close to home, they get spooked, they run a different direction. Or the one that was always more common was that the kid just kept wanderin', hopin' that he/she would come across one of the many cabins that are spread out over the county; but then night hits and they just keep going…and going…

"Hey, we're gonna find her," Shane said, "She'll be tuckered out, hiding in a bush somewhere."

'_And going…and going…' _I thought.

Daryl walked ahead a bit following the trail. "She was doing just fine till right here…all she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way."

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.

"Maybe she saw something that spooked her, made her run off," Shane suggested.

"A walker?" Rick asked.

"I don't see any other footprints…just hers," Daryl said.

"So what do we do?" Shane asked, "All of us press on?"

"No, better if you and Glenn get back up to the highway," Rick replied, "People are gonna start panicking. Let them know we're on her trail doing everything we can. But most of all, keep everybody calm."

"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars…think up a few other chores," Shane agreed, "I'll keep 'em occupied."

They left leaving Daryl, Rick, and I to search for the time being.

"Tracks are gone," Rick said, starting to get discouraged.

"No," Daryl and I said.

"They're faint. But they ain't gone…she came through here," Daryl said.

"How can you tell?" Rick asked, "I don't see anything. Dirt, grass."

"You want a lesson in tracking or you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" Daryl asked. Was tracking a science, no. But if you live off the land and catch your own food, or even if you just go out for hunting season; tracking is a lot like poker. At first you are dealt the cards with no subtly (tracks, scat, etc.), no regard to the game about to be played. Then you are toyed with, the many other players of the game try and knock you out (others creatures muckin' up the trail), but you don't care about them; you have your eye on one thing and you pay close attention to all the subtle tells that are put in front of you until you reach that goal. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Like that deer that Daryl and I had both been tracking…that mother fuckin' deer.

"Hey Rick?" I said.

"Yeah, find something?" he asked quickly.

"No…trackin'…it's kinda like poker," I said.

"Huh?" he asked.

"You have to look for the subtleties to reach your goal…sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," I replied.

"You're a strange girl, you know that," Rick said.

"You got your trackin' lesson for the day," I said, "Be happy…"

We heard leaves rustling and whipped around to find a walker. Before either of them could react I pulled an arrow from the quiver at my thigh and nailed the walker straight in the head, the walked over and retrieved the arrow. "Good thing I was able to recover this one…I'm getting' low."

"Two quivers of arrows and your arrows are getting' low?" Daryl asked motioning to the quiver at my thigh and the one on my back.

"The bow is made for long range, I don't always get to retrieve the arrows like you do…the more the merrier," I said.

"What are you looking for?" Daryl asked, changing the subject when he said Rick examining the walker.

"Skin under the fingernails," he replied, "It fed recently. There's flesh caught in its teeth."

"Yeah, what kinda flesh?" Daryl asked.

"Only one way to find out," Rick replied pulling out his knife.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, grabbing his wrist before he could crudely cut open the belly of the walker, "Slow down there cowboy."

"Here, I'll do it," Daryl offered, pulling out his own knife and kneeling down, "How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyway, mine is sharper." He cut open the belly of the walker then held out the knife to me. "Hold this would ya?"

"Yes sir…"

"Now here comes there bad part," he said, digging around the walker's stomach, "Yeah, hoss had a big meal not that long ago. I feel it in there…here's the gut bag.

"Its not to bloated," I said, looking at the stomach, "If it had run into Sophia and…you know…it would be more bloated than it is. A 12-year old is a…sizable snack for a walker."

Rick gave me a glare.

"I'm just sayin' I don't think this walker got her…that's good news."

"I got this…" he said, before opening the stomach and starting to dig through it.

"Jewels is right," Daryl said, "This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch."

"At least we know…at least we know…" Rick said.

At that point it started to get dark so we headed back to the others.

"Oh god, they're back," Glenn said.

"You didn't find her?" Carol asked, not seeing Sophia with us.

"Her trail when cold, we'll pick up again at first light," Daryl tried to assure her.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods," she cried.

"Out in the dark's no good, we'd just be tripping over ourselves, more people get lost," Rick said.

"But she's 12, she can't be out there on her own, you didn't find anything?" she asked.

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic," Rick said, the reassuring cop in him showing, "We know she was out there."

"And we tracked her for a whole," Daryl added.

"We have to make this an organized effort," Rick said, "Daryl and Jewels know the woods better than any of us, I've asked them to oversee this."

"Is that blood?" Carol asked, seeing the blood from the walker on Rick's shirt.

"We took down a walker," Rick replied.

'_That's not gonna help,'_ I thought.

"Walker? Oh my god," Carol started to panic.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia," Rick said.

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked, cutting in.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure," Daryl said.

"Oh god. How could you just leave her out there to begin with?" Carol asked, starting to get hysterical, "How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us," Rick said, "I had to draw them off, it was her best chance."

"Sounds like he didn't have a choice, Carol," Shane agreed.

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child…she's just a child!" Carol cried. She then turned to me.

'_Oh, don't give me that look, Carol,'_ I thought, _'Please…don't give me that look.'_

"Make them go back out there!" she yelled at me.

"We can't go back out there Carol…there's no trail to pick up this late…" I said.

She took a few steps forward. "If it was your daughter you'd be out there right now right?!"

"Carol, we just need to regroup tonight…there's nothing-."

_SMACK_

"Carol!" Lori said, shocked.

"You can't let them give up…" she sobbed after smacking me, "There is something you can do…there is something you can do…"

I pulled her in for a hug. "I won't let them give up Carol…but you have to trust me when I say there's nothing more we can do tonight…"

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	13. Memories

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_SILENCE…_

After Carol's meltdown I managed to get her to the RV to calm down for a bit. After that everyone went their own separate ways for the evening, hoping to get some sleep before the start of the search for Sophia in the morning.

I wasn't sleeping though…

I was a ways off, in one of the abandoned trucks, feet up on the dash, looking through a photo album. My photo album to be more specific, besides my bow and hunting knife it was the only thing left of him that I had left.

The driver's side door opened and Daryl popped his head in. "You shouldn't wander…son of a bitch, are all you damn women cryin' tonight?"

I reached up and wiped away the tears that I guess had been rolling down my cheeks. "A lot has happened today…"

He climbed in the truck and scooted close, putting his arm around me. An un-Daryl like move; but I wasn't going to object to the non-sexual contact at that point, so I leaned against him, head on his shoulder.

"Watcha lookin' at," he asked.

"Memories…" I replied, closing the album only to have him reopen it.

"Obviously you ain't gonna be sleepin' anytime soon, so…tell me about some of these pictures," he said, "This you?" He pointed to a picture that contained three people; the first, a tall man, wearin' army blues, standing with perfect posture, and a straight faced, his brown eyes emotionless and lips drawn in a thin straight line. The second, a woman; much shorter than the man, but in this particular picture, a beautiful woman; blonde wavy hair pulled back into a loose bun, but her bangs dropping around her deep blue eyes. She wore no make-up, she never needed it, she was a country girl with natural beauty and she knew.

The last in the picture…was a young girl; only four in the picture. Deep blue eyes and soft features like her mother, but brown hair and the same look on her face that he father did.

"Yup…that's my mom and dad," I replied.

"You look more like your mom…" he commented.

"I would rather look like her than my father," I said, "She was a junkie whore, and when she was fucked up she was the ugliest person in the world. But then there was a time like this…she was clean and she was gorgeous. Probably why she was a whore…men couldn't keep their hands off her and she couldn't refuse the attention. Not that I blame her, not like she got any good attention from my father."

"If it gets you so upset…why do you keep this picture?" he asked.

"To remember what I've overcome," I replied.

"Dear Santa letters huh?" he questioned turning the page.

"I wrote Santa every year…but I never actually put the letters on the mantle. Just put in under my pillow and prayed that that Christmas would be better than the last."

"Sounds like there's a story there…"

"My father didn't believe that kids should get an abundance of toys. Makes 'em spoiled…make 'em not want to work for anythin'. That's what he always used to say. I only got presents from my mom on Christmas. She always said that she got extra tips so she was able to save up to buy me a bunch of gifts…a bunch was really only 3 or 4 at that point, but they were expensive gifts."

"But…"

"She was getting the money from her sugar daddy of a drug dealer boyfriend to get the toys…"

"That's twisted right there."

"No, what's twisted is that when I was five…that Christmas she came into my room early in the morning, said she had to take a shift at the restaurant, left, but my dad found a note from her saying that she was leaving for good, and I haven't seen the junkie whore since."

"Christmas?"

"Christmas…and then he beat the crap out of me like it was my fault. That's the time he broke my arm. After that year, I never got a single present from him…no birthday present, no Easter basket, no Christmas present…until I was eight. He got me a doll…"

"A doll?" Daryl asked, looking at me with a surprised look, "You wanted a doll?"

"I was a normal little girl for the most part," I replied, "Once you look past the being the maid, punching bag, and errand girl part of the equation I was pretty normal. I had friends, I watched cartoons in between chores, and all I wanted was a doll like the ones that all the other girls in my third grade class had. He…I guess he caught me looking at the toy section of the adds or something because I woke up one morning and there was this box under the tree with my name on it, and my dad was sitting on the couch and he looked at me told me to open it and there was the doll. First time in my life he ever bought me a present without being goaded into it by my mother…"

He let out a sigh. "What'd you do with the doll?"

"I couldn't wait to show it off…I got permission from him and then I took off down the street to my friend Anna Marie's house and had to show her. It wasn't as exciting after I saw that her dad had gotten her the complete set, but still my dad got me a gift so I wasn't going to complain much. When I got home that night my father as usual was completely wasted and passed out cold on the couch, beer bottles scattered around. So I cleaned up his mess…including the vomit and then I decided to get some coffee mugs down, get some stuffed animals and screw the world, me and my new doll were gonna have a tea party with Sir Fuzzy Wuzzy III, Meowington, and Ellie the elephant."

Daryl put his hands in his hands and started laughing. "Sir Fuzzy Wuzzy III?"

"Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy was he…" I sang.

"Jesus Christ, woman…" he said.

"This was the precursor to getting thrown through the window…" His smile immediately dropped, almost like he regretted laughing. "It's okay…" I said, rubbing his knee, "I don't really remember hitting the window…I remember him yelling at me about using the mugs at toys and I ended up yelling back at him that if he would just get me more toys I wouldn't need too and then I remember him grabbing me, hitting me, throwing me, I heard a crash, and then I was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Apparently I screamed so loud after I hit the ground it alerted half the block."

"That brings me to the two people who truly cared about me," I said turning a couple of pages, flipping over the conviction articles that I had kept all these years.

I pulled out a picture of my grandparents and looked at it. "I never knew that there were two people who had so much love in their hearts until they took me in…all I had known was hate."

"Look at this," he said picking up a picture, "Quite the little hunter."

"My first wild kill," I said, looking at the picture of me when I was ten holding up a rabbit by the ears, "Arrow right between the eyes."

"Guess you always had skill with that bow…"

"Granddaddy said that it was in my blood to be a hunter."

He couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at that. We flipped through the album some more and I found myself relaxing as we did.

"I need to ask ya' somethin'," he said.

"Anything…" I said, looking up at him.

"Back at the C.D.C. when you had that gun pointed at Jenner," he stopped, seeming to be trying the find the right words, "You said you made a promise to someone…"

I chuckled. "Worried that in the back of my mind I'm thinkin' about a past lover that I got separated from when the world went to shit?" I saw his jaw tighten. "You don't have to worry about a thing…"

"I ain't worried!" he snapped.

I smirked and grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down for a kiss. "If it makes you feel any better the promise I made was to a woman…" I whispered.

"You have no idea the image that I got in my head right now," he said, shifting a bit.

"Well get that dirty thought out of your head big boy," I said, turning back to the album and flipping towards the back of the album, "My best friend Monica." I held up a picture; a petite brown haired Latino woman with big brown eyes standing next to a tall blonde man. "I promised her that I wouldn't give in no matter how bad things got out here…I had told her everything about my past in college and she said I was way too strong and had been through way too much to give just because there was some super virus going around…"

"I'm gonna guess that these two are hers," he said, pointing to a picture of me with a set of twins.

"Yeah…never got the chance to have a couple of rug rats of my own," I replied, looking at the smiling faces of Monica's twins, "Smart little pain in the asses made me want kids of my own…that ship has sail in a big way though."

Daryl kissed the side of my head. "Ya' can't dwell on that, ya' said ya' made a promise to Monica to keep goin'. That's what you're gonna do."

"Yeah…" I said, "Easier said than done."

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	14. The Search Begins

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

When I woke up in the morning I was stretched out across Daryl, head on his chest, a light snore coming from him.

_BANG BANG BANG_

So much for a peaceful wake up; someone banged on the door to the truck and Daryl bolted up right, gun drawn, pulling me tightly to his chest.

"Hey, love birds…time to start the search again," Shane said.

"Sumbitch, do that again and I'll blow your fuckin' head off!" Daryl yelled as Shane sauntered off.

"Daryl...I think you can let go now…" I said.

"Pisses me of…thinks he can go around tellin' people what to do…" he said letting me go.

"Someone's cranky," I said, pushing open the truck and crawling out.

He continued to mumble about Shane being a fuckin' shit head, until we got back with the group.

"Everyone takes a weapon," Rick says, laying out a small arsenal of bladed tools.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea complained, "What about the guns?"

"Andrea, we've been over that…Daryl, Rick and I are carrying," Shane said, "We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," she snarked.

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by," Shane said, trying to get it through her head that she didn't need to be carrying a gun, "See, then its game over for all of us, so you need to get over it."

"Why does Jewels get to carry?" she asked, crossing her arms.

I smiled and pulled out the handgun from the back of my waistband. "Here…" I handed the gun over to Rick, "Happy?"

"Not really," Andrea replied.

"Jesus Christ," Daryl said, "Let just get started. The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn and come back down the other side…chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other," Rick said, "Dale, keep. On those repairs, we've got to get this RV ready to move."

"We won't stay here a minute longer than we have to," Dale said, "Good luck out there…bring Sophia back."

"Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone?" Rick asked.

"I'm going with you," Carl stated, "You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible."

Rick let out a groan and looked at Lori.

"Your call…I can't always be the bad guy," she said.

"Well, he has all of you to look after him," Dale said, "I'd say he's in good hands."

"Okay…okay…but always within out sight, no exceptions," Rick agreed.

Weapons were handed out, search plan was set, and we headed out to look for Sophia. There were no signs of new tracks like she had tried to find her way back to the highway over night, but you could see her old tracks now slightly being over lapped by movement of forest wildlife.

'_Poker…just like poker…'_ I thought.

After a while of walking we came across a tent.

"She could be in there…" Shane suggested.

"Could be a whole bunch of things in there," Daryl said, moving towards the tent.

"Carol, call out softly," Rick said, "If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should here."

"Sophia, sweetie…are you in there? Sophia, its mommy," she whispered, "Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy."

Daryl slowly opened the tent and began to cough and gag.

"Daryl? Daryl?" Carol questioned.

"It ain't her," he assured her.

"What's in there?" Andrea asked.

"Some guy…did what Jenner said; opted out," he replied, "Ain't that what he called it?"

Suddenly we heard church bells ringing.

"What direction?" Shane asked as we all looked around trying to pinpoint the sound of the bells.

"I think that way…I'm pretty sure," Rick replied.

"Damn, its hard to tell out here," Shane said.

"If we heard them, maybe Sophia did too," Carol said.

"Something else could have heard those bells too," I said.

"Someone's ringing those bells…maybe calling others," Glenn added.

"Or signaling they found her," Andrea said.

"Or…she could be ringing them herself…" Rick said, leading us in the direction that he thought the bells were coming from.

"That can't be it," Shane said as we finally came up on a small church, "Got no steeple, no bells. Rick?"

Rick ran ahead into the church followed by Daryl and Shane. "Sophia?!"

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick," Shane repeated, "There's no steeple."

I stood outside of the church as the others looked around.

"You comin'?" Lori asked.

"I'm good here…last time I was in a church I wasn't that nice to our good lord and savior," I replied, "I don't particularly feel like walking through those doors and spontaneously combusting in front of y'all."

"Suit yourself," she said.

I walked away from the church and into the woods to see if there had been any sign of Sophia. So far the only thing I had been finding was rabbit and deer tracks.

The bells of the church started to ring again and I heard something about them being on a timer.

'_This church is a dead end,'_ I thought.

"You're splitting us up?" I heard Daryl ask, "You sure."

I looked over and saw the others seemingly discussing another game plan.

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you," Shane replied.

"I want to stay too," Carl insisted, "I'm her friend."

Lori looked conflicted about this, but gave in. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will," Carl replied, with a relieved smile.

"When did you start growing up?" she asked, ruffling his hair.

"I'll be along soon enough, here take this," Rick said, holding out his gun to her, "Remember how to use it?"

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed," Lori protested.

"Here, got a spare," Daryl said handing her his gun instead, "Take it."

We broke off from Shane and Rick and headed back into the woods and started back up with our search for Sophia.

"So this is it?" Carol asked, "This is the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl replied.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks…I see you have a gun," Andrea said sourly to Lori.

"Oh, would you come off the fuckin' gun thing," I snapped, starting to getting really sick of her complaining.

"You want it?" Lori asked, also clearly aggravated, "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." She then turned to Carol. "All of you…honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have to stop blaming Rick, it is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently." She stopped and looked around at all of us. "Anybody? Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

It was quiet for a few minutes. Lori's words sinking in to everyone. I didn't blame Rick for what happened to Sophia, he couldn't have done anything different. The fact of the matter was that he made a decision, and Sophia was lost. It wasn't his fault…

"We should keep moving…" Andrea finally said.

A COUPLE HOURS LATER

"Jewels, you got anything?" Daryl asked, looking over at me.

"Besides dinner…no," I said, holding up a rabbit by the ears. Andrea grimaced at my catch. "We gotta eat something."

_GUNSHOT_

"That was a gunshot," Lori said.

"We all heard it," Daryl stated.

"Why one—why just one gunshot?" she asked.

"Maybe they took down a walker," he suggested.

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker, or Shane," she said, "They'd do it quietly."

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol asked, starting to worry again.

"There's nothing we can do about it, anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes," Daryl replied.

"So, what do we do?" Lori asked.

"Same as we have been," I replied.

"She's right," Daryl agreed, "Just beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV," Andrea said to Carol, "I'm sorry for what you're going through…I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do—thank you. The thought of her, out here by herself…it's the not knowing that's killin' me. I just keep hopin' and prayin' she doesn't wind up like Amy," Carol stopped realizing what she had said, "Oh, God! That's the worst thing I ever said."

"We're all hoping and praying with you…for what it's worth," Andrea said.

"I'll tell ya what it's worth—not a damn thing," Daryl said, "It's a waste of time, all this hopin' and prayin'. We're gonna locate that little girl. She's gonna be just fine. Am I the only one zen around here? Good lord. Now…we'll be losing light before too long. I thing we should call it."

"Let's head back," Lori agreed.

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol asked.

"Of course we will," I said.

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow," Lori added.

We started walking back towards the highway, everyone starting to get a bit tired after the long day.

"How much farther?" Andrea asked.

"Not much…maybe a hundred yards as the crow flies," Daryl replied.

'_Jesus Christ. As the crow flies…' _I thought.

"Too bad we're not crows," Andrea said, before walking straight into a spider web, "Oh…oh! As the crow flies my ass." Next thing we know there was a scream. "No, no oh no!"

"Andrea!" Carol yelled running back towards her.

We headed back towards the sound of the screaming to save her ass, but we were met by a woman on a horse holding a baseball bat and Andrea looking up at her, a motionless walker next her.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" the woman asked.

"I'm Lori," Lori said.

"Rick sent me—you've got to come now," she said.

"What?" Lori questioned.

"There's been an accident—Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you—just come!" she said.

Lori went towards the woman and started to get on the horse.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse!" Daryl said.

I grabbed his arm. "She knows too much for us not to have some trust…Lori…go."

The woman looked at us. "Rick said y'all had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?"

"Uh-huh…" Glenn replied, seeming to be a bit love struck by the young woman.

"Backtrack to Fairburn road, two miles down is our farm…you'll see the mailbox, name's Green," she said, before turning the horse, "HI-YAH!"

The woman took off with Lori and we headed back to the highway…

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	15. Doubt

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"Shot? What do ya mean shot?" Dale asked once we got back to the highway.

"I don't know, Dale…I wasn't there," Glenn replied, "All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

"And you let her?" he asked, now looking at Daryl.

"Climb down out of my asshole, man," Daryl said, "Rick sent her, she knew Lori's name…and Carl's."

"I heard screams—was that you?" he asked, now doing his over protective father thing to Andrea.

"She got attacked by a walker," Glenn replied, "It was a close call."

"Andrea are you all right?" he asked.

She just walked in the RV slamming the door behind her.

THE NEXT MORNING

"I won't do it, we can't just leave," Carol said, almost to the point of crying again.

"Carol, the group is split," Dale said, "We're scattered and weak."

"What if she comes back and we're not here? It could happen," she said.

I leaned against the RV and watched the scene unfold. It had been an unpeaceful sleep for me, due to the fact that we were in such a small group, Dale insisted that we all stay close so Daryl and I ended up in the RV; him on his sleeping bag on the floor, me on one of the dining benches. Carol was up crying almost all night, so needless to say it wasn't the best of sleeps that I've had in a while.

"Okay, we gotta plan for this," Daryl said, taking lead, "I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stary with the RV."

"If the RV is stayin', I am too," Dale stated, in a no argument voice.

"Thank you," Carol said, "Thank you both."

"I'm in," Andrea said.

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-," Glenn started.

"Not you, Glenn," Dale stated, "You're going…take Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?" he asked.

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on, but most important, you have to get T-Dog there. This is not an option…that cut has gone from bad to worse, he has a very serious blood infection. Get him to that farm…see if they have any antibiotics," Dale said, "Because if not T-Dog will die…no joke."

Daryl thought for a second and then walked towards the motorcycle.  
>Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle," he said, grabbing one of the rags that Glenn and Dale had been using while working on the RV engine, "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash." He opened storage bag on the side of the motorcycle and pulled out a large Ziploc bag full of loose pills and pill bottles. "Crystal, x…don't need that."<p>

I looked at the bag and thought back to the night that Merle tried to rape me. _'Shit…he drugged me…stupid, stupid, stupid! Why didn't you realize that that before?!'_

"Got some kick ass painkillers…Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion," Daryl finished, handing Glenn the bag.

I walked around to the other side of the RV. _'Jesus Christ girl…if Daryl hadn't saved your stupid ass that night you would have been drugged out, raped, and possibly ended up with the clap.'_

"Jewels…"

"Ah! Oh shit Daryl, you scared me…" I said, turning around to see him standing there.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Oh besides the realization that your brother drugged me and if you hadn't saved me I could of ended with the clap," I said, "God damn it…I'm such an idiot."

He walked over to me and put a hand on the side of my face. "You ain't an idiot…and ya ain't got to worry about shit like that anymore. Merle ain't here, and even if he was…well…I've marked my territory."

"Marked your territory?" I questioned.

He smirked and pulled me into his chest. "Yep, it took a whole night to do so but, there's no doubt you're mine."

"Oh really…and what makes you so sure that some random stranger might not think that I'm with oh say…Glenn or Shane," I just about gagged after I said Shane's name and he laughed.

"Cause Glenn's too much of a wuss for a tough girl like you and can't hold his alcohol, and Shane…well…you look like ya want to kill him every time you look at him," he replied, "But when you look at me…you give me those, pretty little bedroom eyes."

"I would call it more of a 'throw me in a back of a car and fuck my brains out' look," I whispered.

"You have no idea how tempted I am," he growled, kissing the side of my head.

NIGHT

_**(WE INTERUPT THIS STORY FOR AN AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm gonna replace Andrea with Jewels in this next part…please enjoy)**_

That night Carol began to sob again. I could understand why though; her little was missing and she was worried sick.

"Can't sleep either?" Daryl questioned, looking down at me. I had been _trying_ to sleep next to him on his sleeping bag in the very narrow walkway of the RV. But success of sleeping had slipped away because I kept glancing over at Carol.

"No…" I said, quietly.

He side and stood up. "I need my clip now," he said, holding his hand out to Andrea who had been messing with his gun, "I'm gonna walk the road, look for the girl." He walked out of the RV and I got up and followed him.

"I'm coming too," I said, grabbing my bow.

We're going for a walk," Daryl said, to Dale who was keeping watch on top of the RV, "Shine some light in the forest. If she's out there, give her something to look at."

"You think that's a good idea right now?" he asked.

"We'll be fine Dale," I said, "No need to worry."

We headed into the forest, flashlights shining brightly in the trees. The silence between us was just about as heavy as the leaves on the ground at that point and I gave a sigh. "You really think we're gonna find Sophia?"

"You got that look on your face same as everybody else now…" he said, "What the hell's wrong with you people? We just started looking."

"It's not that I'm losing _hope_…I just…my granddaddy help train dogs for search and rescue dogs for the fire department and he was part of the volunteer search and rescue team. I just know from experience that these things don't always turn out the way that we want them too," I said, "So I'm just wondering…do you think we'll find her?"

"It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia, she could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive…it happens all the time," he said, _almost_ confidentially.

"She's only 12, Daryl…and it's not like she has the tracking and hunting skills that we do," I said, sighing again. If sighing was a sport, I was soon going to be crowned champion of most sighs sighed or die from lack of air.

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost," he said, "Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak…"

"They found you?" I questioned, surprised that he was actually opening up about something in his past. So far the only thing I knew was that his father was a nasty drunk like mine. I didn't mind much though…if he didn't want to talk about all the shitty stuff that happened in his life. Fine by me…

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress," he replied, "Merle was doing another stint in juvie. Didn't even know I was gone…I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh at that point and he gave me a look. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, that's a terrible story…but I've seen, and felt, that ass of yours and well…"

"Yeah…I guess the thought of me walkin' back into camp or somethin' with my ass itchin' cause of somethin' like that would amuse ya huh?" he asked, letting out a laugh, "I guess the only difference between me and Sophia, is she's got people looking for her. I call that an advantage." I stopped in my tracks and he turned to look at me. "What?"

"It's nothin'," I said, rethinking asking the question that had floated into my head.

If we had met before all this shit took place, would we have been friends…would we have dated…or would out lives have been too different to even notice each other in the "modern world"as it could now be considered.

Was it too much to ask that I wanted to know the answer to that…I didn't even know what I really was to him at that point. He said that "he wouldn't let any other man touch me" and that I was "his territory"…but what did that really mean?

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: MUHAHAHAHA I left you with my character slightly doubting what she was to Daryl. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuun. Yes, total 180 from the whole throw me in the back of a car and fuck me look, but I think that a bit of doubt always makes things a little more interesting…REVIEW PLEASE! **_


	16. You're My Girl

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

The next morning we headed to the farm after leaving a not written on the windshield of a car for Sophia along with some food. Daryl and I hadn't spoken all morning and even the night before after we got back from taking a walk looking for Sophia I had opted for sleeping on the bench instead of next to him on the floor.

Once at the farm house I was in awe and was barely listening to how well Carl was doing. I heard something about him pulling through and that it was a hunting accidident, but…

'_It looks just like home…'_ I thought. From the barn to the cattle pasture, the old style farm house and the stables, and the fruit trees growin' nearby…this ranch looked almost exactly like my grandparents land. You know those moments, were you almost have a vision of something that happened in the past? Where you can see yourself or something that used to be right in front of you but you know it's not really there? For a moment I had that…me running across the field to the farmhouse, dogs running behind me, and being scooped up by my grandfather, my grandmother waiting at the door with a big smile on her face.

"Hey, Jewels," someone said, a hand waving in front of my face.

I blinked and looked and saw Glenn looking at me. "Yeah?"

"You all right?" he questioned.

"Um…yeah…I uh…was just feeling a bit nostalgic, that's all," I replied.

Later in the day there had been a funeral for a guy named Otis. He was the one that had accidentally shot Carl and in an attempt to make things right he showed Shane the way to get the supplies Hershel would need to save his life, but Otis ended up being killed by walkers. Most of the group attended the funeral out of respect; and it wasn't that I didn't have respect for the man that saved Carl's life. I just wasn't too fond of funerals and tried to avoid them as much as possible. I had once told Monica that if it were possible I wouldn't attended my own funeral, then she reminded me about cremation…then I reminded her of the ceremonies that some peoples family have done after cremations. Yeah…just through me in the woods after I'm dead…let nature take its course.

"Where are my clean shirts?" Daryl asked, ripping me from my thoughts.

I pointed over to the bag that was laying not too far from the tent that I was setting up.

"You gonna talk to me today or are ya just gonna point at things and think I ain't gonna notice that your sassy ass is being as quiet as a fuckin' field mouse?" he snapped.

I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out. There you have it…Julianne Taylor: Great in bed, sucks when it comes to relationships…

"Forget it…" he said, grabbing his clean shirt and walking off.

"Son of a bitch!" I said, kicking the tent.

I could hear the guys planning another search for Sophia and apparently Daryl was going to be searching on his own for the day, Rick had given blood to Carl so he was in no shape to go anywhere and poor wittle Shane had injured himself getting the supplies for Carl.

"Daryl…you okay on your own?" Rick asked, as Daryl headed off to search.

"I'm better on my own," Daryl said, looking right at me as he said it, "I'll be back before dark."

"Hey…we got a base…" Rick said, "We can get this search properly organized now."

"You got a point or are we just chatting?" Daryl asked looking at him.

"My point is…it lets you off the hook," Rick replied, "You don't owe us anything."

"My other plans fell through…" Daryl said, before heading off into the woods.

_CHOP_

The wood that I was chopping split in two as the axe came down on it. I was angry at myself, very angry. For that reason I spent most of the day splitting wood and setting up camp. There was no way I was going to be much help with anything else while I was that angry.

That evening everyone was settling and that included myself (and the book that I had borrowed from Dale), and Daryl finally stepped into the tent and when he saw me he gave an aggravated sigh; he was obviously still pissed about the silent treatment that I had been giving him and I didn't blame him for it.

"I'll get a different tent," he said, turning to leave the tent.

As he did so I grabbed his pant leg, stopping him in his tracks. "Please don't leave…" There, I had finally managed to say something to him. "Th…there's something I need to ask you…and tell you."

He let out another sigh and plopped down on the sleeping bag next to me. "I'm listenin',"

"I'm not good at the whole…_feelings_ thing," I started, " I get confused when it comes to men even though I know what I want, it's really hard for me to ask really important questions…questions that really ought to be answered."

"Woman, you ain't makin' no sense…" he said.

"Um…what I'm tryin' to say is…well what I'm tryin' to ask is...what am I to you?" I finally got out. "Am I just some type of booty call that you want to keep to yourself or am I….you know…"

"You want to know if we're goin' steady now?" he question, an amused look on his face.

"Well…yeah…I um…well…" I tried to get out, rubbing the back of my head. _'I am such a dweab.'_

Suddenly I found myself flat against the sleeping bags, Daryl hovering over me. "You're my girl Jewels…"

"Really?" I asked, not fully believing what I was hearing at that moment.

He leaned down, the hairs of his goatee brushing against my cheek as he did so. "I told you at the CDC that I _want _you…and as a hunter I won't stop until I get what I want."

My heartbeat quickened and my arms snaked around his back. "I'm yours."

"Good," he whispered, "By the way…did I mention how good these jeans made your ass look?"

"No…" I whispered, my breath hitching in my throat as I felt his hand making its way southward.

"They look even better off…" he began to pull down my jeans along with my panties and I kicked off my boots allowing him to cast the confining clothing aside.

"Fuck me, Daryl," I begged, working at the buttons of his shirt, "Please."

He gave a chuckle. "Ya sure about that? If I do…I'm gonna fuck your brains out."

I shivered, my hands now clumsily working at the button of his pants that were holding back the clear buldge that I could feel growing against my thigh.

"I want you now," I moaned.

He began to kiss my neck as he worked at the buttons of my shirt, pushing it off me before, massaging my breasts through my tattered bra. How I wished in that moment I was wearing something that was much sexier for this man. But he didn't seem to care at all about the state that the bra was in…unless that state was off of me. He unclasp the bra and through it aside leaving me naked beneath him.

Now knowing what we really were to each other, what our relationship status was (yeah…thanks Facebook), I almost felt shy as he looked down at me. This wasn't just sex because of attraction and I had never felt _shy_ when I had been with a man before. Worried that if he really took a good look at my body that the scars that we scattered across my body would make him not want to look at me.

I tried to cover myself up and he grabbed my wrists, pinning them above my head. "Don't ya ever…try to hide your beautiful body from me…" He leaned down and kissed the large scar on my rib cage. "I don't care, I have 'em too…ya know that," he whispered, his lips traveling up to my neck nipping at the sensitive skin. "And no other man…gets to see these scars anymore, got it?" he growled that last part and I shivered as I nodded. "Heh…good girl."

He released my hands and they shot down to his pants finally pushing them off. "I want you in me…now," I whispered.

He didn't say anything and just pushed into me. He pushed as far into me as he could repeating this over and over again.

"Damn it," he growled, "How are ya always so tight."

All I could do was buck my hips in reply. My world was spinning; and even though he was moving at a fast pace, it was like I could feel every inch of him as he moved in and out of me.

I raked my fingers down his back resulting in hard thrusts. "Oh, god Daryl…"

I threw my legs around his waist pulling him closer to me as his speed increased. We were both getting closer to our climaxes and I could feel it as my walls tightened around his pulsing member.

"Dar…Daryl…I'm g…going to…" I started to say, only to be cut off by the shockwave that was my orgasm. "Daryl!" I screamed, before slapping my hand over my mouth. Our tent was somewhat a ways away from the others, but still discreetness was the key.

He pumped through his orgasm before pulling out of me and turning me over and pulling my hips up and sliding into me again. He gripped my hips tightly and he began to push in and out of me.

The hunter had become more like an animal; grunting as he slammed into, his skin slapping against mine.

"Ah…ah…D…oh my god, Daryl," I moaned, feeling another orgasm coming on.

"Jewels," he moaned.

He gave a few more hard thrusts before we both came again. He rolled away from me, laying on his back looking at the ceiling of the tent, completely out of breath. I on the other hand fell to my side, half lidded eyes looking at him.

He turned his head and looked at me. "I better not catch you lookin' like that around any other man," he said, before pulling me close to him and pulling a blanket that I hand spread out earlier over us.

"What look?" I asked.

"Lookin' like what?" I asked.

"Like you've just had your brains fucked out of ya," he replied, smirking.

"I don't think ya have to worry about that," I agreed.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: YAY they made up! Hope you liked the chapter and that the lemon wasn't to sucky…please review and thank you for all the likes, followers, and reviews so far 3 **_


	17. My Type

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_ROOSTER CROWS FAR OFF IN THE DISTNACE_

'_The only thing worse than a regular alarm clock is a rooster,'_ I thought, slowly opening my eyes. I looked up a sleeping Daryl, his chest was slowly moving up and down with each breath. I reach up and ran my fingers across the scars on his chest. _'We're both damaged in our own way…but that's what makes us so alike, huh?'_ I saw goose bumps begin to rise on his skin and his hand came up and grabbed my but his eyes didn't open. "You awake?" I whispered. He let out a small snore and I smiled. _'Guess not…'_

I sat up and began gathering my clothes and getting dressed before heading out.

"Morning Carol," I said, seeing her working on the laundry.

"Good morning," she replied, "Sleep well?"

I stopped and gave a smile before picking up a couple of articles of clothing. "Actually, I did…"

"Good…say I had an idea, and I wanted to run it by Lori, but I think you'd be interested as well," she said, as we began to hang the laundry.

"You have my full and undivided attention," I said.

"That big kitchen that they have…I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind cooking in a real kitchen again," she said, "Maybe we could pitch in and cook dinner for Hershel and his family tonight."

I chuckled. "I don't know if you'd want my help…"

"Of course we would…a professional chef…it would be so exciting to see one working up close and personal," she stopped and let out a sigh, "Ed never too me to none of those fancy places to eat so the closest I ever got to a head chef was the cook at the diner down the street."

"Hey, let me tell you…those guys work hard too," I said, "And I'm a bit of a control freak in the kitchen…I might end up taking over. Some of my employees even said that I didn't play well with others."

"Well I for one wouldn't mind following instruction if it meant getting a gourmet meal."

"Well…then I'd be more than happy to help you with this cooking endevour of yours."

"I'll ask Lori to talk to Hershel then."

"Why Lori? How come you don't just ask…its just dinner. I would think that as long as you ask there would be no problem."

"Well, she's Rick's wife."

I shrugged my shoulders. "So?"

"Well…that kinda makes her the unofficial first lady doesn't it? I mean Rick is basically our leader now."

"I guess…" I agreed. I wasn't really going to argue that Rick had really stepped up as a leader after he showed up. I hadn't been with the group for very long before he reappeared, but I sure as hell knew that he was a better fit for a leader than Shane was.

"Good morning," Lori said, finally stepping out from her tent, "I can't believe I slept in."

"You must have needed it…feeling all right?" Carol asked.

"Next time wake, all right? Especially on laundry day," she said.

"I can manage," Carol said, "Plus Jewels has been a big help."

'_Everybody is gonna start callin' me Jewels now,'_ I thought.

"Um, I had an idea and Jewels said she would help, but I wanted to run it by you first," Carol said.

"What's that?" Lori asked.

Carol proceeded to tell her the idea that she had and Lori nodded. "After everything they've done for us, seems like the least we could do."

"You mind extending the invitation?" Carol asked, "Would just feel more right coming from you…"

"How so?" Lori asked, just as confused as I had been.

"You're Rick's wife…it sort of makes you our unofficial first lady," she replied.

Lori looked over at me and I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah…" she agreed.

We continued to fold laundry as everyone began to emerge from their tents and get ready for restarting the search for Sophia.

As the guys were talking I walked over to listen to their game plan. I was staying behind to help with dinner instead of helping Daryl with his search, but I still wanted to know what everyone was doing and where they were going. It was a bad habit I had picked up from my grandmother. She always had to make sure she knew what search team was goin' where when there was a missing person.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me," Shane said, "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"Anybody includes her, right?" Andrea snarked.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than…yay-high," he said, holding up his hand about the height that Sophia was.

"It's a good lead," Andrea said.

"Maybe we'll pick up her trail again," Rick said, trying to keep the tension down.

"No maybe about it," Daryl said, "I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here, take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Good idea….maybe you'll see you chupacabra up there too," T-Dog said.

"Chupacabra?" Rick and I asked.

"You never heard this?" Dale asked, "Our first night in camp, Daryl tells us that the whole thing reminds him of a time when he went squirrel hunting and he saw a chupacabra."

Jimmy, a young kid that lived at the farm laughed earning a glare from Daryl. "What are you braying at, jackass?"

"You believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Jimmy asked.

"Do you believe in dead people walking around?" Daryl sniped.

After some more witty banter Daryl headed off to the stables to get a horse and I followed him. "You even know how to ride one?" I questioned.

"Wouldn't suggest takin' one if I didn't." he said, "You were real quiet earlier…ain't plannin' on joinin' me?"

"The girls and I are gonna cook dinner for y'all," I replied.

He gave a smile and pulled me close to him. "My girl is gonna be in the kitchen cookin' for me?"

"Yeah," I replied. He just looked at me with a stupid grin and his face and then he let out a sigh. "What?" I asked.

"It's nothing…" he said, letting me go.

"Obviously it is," I disagreed as he began to grab the tack for the horse that he would be taking.

He set the saddle on the saddle rack that was nearby and look at the ground thinking about something. "What do you think it would have been like…ya know…if we would have met before the world went to shit?"

"What do ya mean?" I asked.

"Ya think that you and me would be together?" he asked, "Think if I just wandered into your café that you would have noticed me."

"No…" I said, flatly.

"What?" he asked, looking offended.

I walked over to him and played with the front of his shirt. "I paid way to much attention to the food to notice _any_ men that wandered into my café, everybody was a customer and that was that…but if we met at the supermarket or met in a bar or something like that…yes Daryl, I would defiantly date you."

"So you'd notice a guy like me even with all the other guys of the world around ya?" he questioned.

I stood up on my tip toes and kissed him. "What can I say…you're my type."

"Better stay that way," he said.

"No one better to watch my back," I said, before leaving him to get started on his search.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: This chapter is shorter, but I have something special in mind for the next chapter :)**_


	18. I Ain't Nobody's Bitch

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_**Note: I said I had something special in mind for this chapter aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand…it's gonna be mostly Daryl's POV so I hope you like it :)**_

DARYL'S POV

I had been searching for Sophia for awhile now and things weren't looking hopeful.

"Sophia!" I yelled looking down from the top of cliff. The horse I was on jumped a little and I patted her neck. "Easy…easy…" I moved on along the cliff side, hoping to find more than the doll that I had found earlier. The doll belonged to Sophia, but it was just one clue of many that could lead to her.

Suddenly the horse reared up, bucking me off, causing me to roll down the small cliff down into the river below. When I finally landed I felt a sharp pain in my side and looked to see that I had landed on my crossbow at some point and now I had an arrow sticking through my side. I climbed over to the riverbank and cut off the sleeves to my shirt so that I could make a tie to keep the arrow in place until I got back to the farm. I then looked up the cliffside.

'_Fuck…this is just fuckin' perfect,'_ I thought.

I heard a rustlin' in the bushes and reached behind me to find my crossbow only to realize that it wasn't there. _'Fuck…'_ I thought, grabbing a stick and searching through the water until I finally found it, then started the painful task of tryin' to get up the side of the cliff.

"Come on, you made it halfway up, quite bein' such a pussy…come on," I said, trying to pull myself up the rest of the way. I reached for another tree but my hand slipped and I went rolling back down to the bottom of the cliff to the riverbank and was out like a light.

I woke up a little while later to a face I thought I would never see again.

"Why don't you pulle that arrow out, dummy?" Merle asked, leaning over me, "You could bind your wound better."

"Merle?" I questioned.

"What's going on here?" he asked, "You takin' a siesta or something?"

"A shitty day, bro," I replied.

"Screw you," I said.

"Huh-uh…you're the one screwed from the looks of it. All them years I spent, tryin' to make a man of you, this is what I get? Look at you. Lyin' in the dirt like a used rubber…you're gonna die out here, brother. And for what?"

"A girl…a lost little girl…"

"So you got a think for little girls now?"

"Shut up."

"'Cause I noticed you ain't out lookin' for old Merle no more."

"Tried like hell to find you, bro."

"Like hell you did. You split, man. Lit out first chance you got…you lit out…all you had to do was wait."

"We went back for you…Rick and I, we did right by you," I said, letting out a breath, "Jewels went lookin' for you too…even after what you tried to do to her."

"This the same Rick that cuffed me to the rooftop in the first place? Forced me to cut off my own hand?" he asked.

In my haze I looked and saw that his hand was still there.

"That him we're talkin' about here? You his bitch now?" he asked.

"I ain't nobody's bitch," I said.

"As for sugar tits…she's just playin' with your mind…"

"No she ain't."

"She got in your head…just like all them other girls she's just another bit of pussy that you can use."

"She ain't like that, bro. She's different…"

"Heh. She's just like the rest of 'em, usin' ya for a good ride and then sniggerin' behind ya back."

I sighed and shook my head. "She ain't…"

"That's right…I ain't," I heard Jewels say before seeing her standing over me.

"Though you were stayin' at camp?" I asked.

"You were takin' too long to get back to the farm, started to get worried about my man."

Merle laughed. "Ain't nobody's bitch huh? You're a joke is what you are, playing errand boy to a bunch of pansy-asses, niggers, democrats, and this piece of ass. You're nothin' but a freak to them. Redneck trash. That's all you are. They're laughing at you behind your back. You know that, don't you? I got news for you, son. One day they gonna scrape you off their heels like you was dog shit. 'Specially that cute little thing you're bangin'. They ain't your kin, your blood. Hell, you had any nuts in that sack of yours you'd go back there and shoot your pal Rick in the face for me."

"He ain't that kind of man," Jewels said, interrupting him, "He's a good man…better than you think he is."

"Hey! Now you listen me," Merle snapped at me, "Ain't nobody ever gonna care about you except me, little brother. Nobody ever will. Come on, get up on your feet before I have to kick your teeth in. Let's go." He began to kick my foot and I black out again for a few seconds before I realized that there was a walker was chewin' on my boot.

I began to struggle with the walker and ended up beating its face in with the stick I had been using earlier. The struggle had attracted the attention of another walker and I grabbed my crossbow. I didn't have any back up arrows so I pulled the arrow out of my and painfully loaded the crossbow before shooting the walker just before it was about to grab me.

After that I "rebandaged" my wound and looked at it. "Son of a bitch was right…" I groaned before starting back up the cliff.

"Please, don't feed the birds," I heard Merle's voice as I made my way up the cliff, "What's the matter, Darylina? That all you got in you?" I looked up and saw him leaning over the side of the cliff. "Throw that purse away and climb."

"I liked it better when you was missing," I snapped.

"Come on, don't be like that," he said, "I'm on your side."

"Yeah, Since when?"

"Hell, since the day you were born, baby brother. Somebody had to look after your worthless ass…stop you from makin' stupid ass decisions. Like getting' involved with sugar tits."

"You never took care of me, you talk a big game but you was never there. And leave Jewels the hell out of it! Hell, you ain't here now. Guess some things never change."

I heard a chuckle. "Well at least you know that I'm on your side."

"Damn it, not you too," I said, seeing Jewels crouched down looking down at me.

"I've had my legs wrapped around that strong body. Ran my hand over every single muscle," she purred, "I know you can get back up here."

"Give a girl a little dick and she thinks you can hold the world on your shoulder," Merle laughed, "Makes you sound like superman, don't she?"

"Shut the hell up! Like I said, you ain't even here…" I said.

"Well, I'll tell you what…I'm as real as your chupacabra…" Merle said.

"I know what I saw!" I snapped.

"And I'm sure them shrooms you ate had nothin' to do with it, right?" he asked.

"You'd best shut the hell up!"

"Or what?" You gonna come up here and shut my mouth for me? Well. Come on and do it then, if you think you're man enough. Kick off them damn high heels and climb, son. You know what? If I were you I'd take a pause for the cause, brother. 'Cause unlike your bitch here, I just don't you're gonna make it to the top. Come on, little brother."

He continued to egg me on and finally I pulled myself up and they were both gone. "Yeah, you better run!"

MEANWHILE

"Hey Maggie…" I said, going through the cupboards of the kitchen.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Is this bourbon being saved for anything?" I questioned, pulling down the bottle of alcohol from the cupboard and showing it to her.

"Not that I know of, why?" she asked.

I looked at the pieces of fresh beef that were searing in the pan on the stove. "Because I would like to use it for dinner if that's okay…" I replied.

"I don't see why not," she said.

"Fire in the hole," I said, popping opened the bottle and pouring it into the pan, flames bursting up as the alcohol began to reduce.

"Oh!" Carol said, jumping.

"No that's what I'm talking about!" I said shaking the pan.

"Good god," Lori said.

"Ladies I am a professional, no need to worry." I said with a smile.

They just stared at me.

"I'm gonna go set the table," Carol said, leaving the kitchen.

"I'll help," Lori added, leaving the kitchen with a small smile.

"Think you scared them away," Maggie said, leaning against the counter.

"I do that sometimes…but if you're gonna cook, might as well do it with some flare," I said, as the flames died down and the food started to simmer again.

"Lori said you used to be a chef…that true?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "Had my own café…ran my own staff…bossed people around it was-."

_GUNSHOT_

"What the hell was that?" Maggie asked.

I turned the heat off on the stove and moved the pan off the burner. "I don't know, but let's go find out…they might need help."

We ran outside with the others.

"What the hell is going on?" Hershel asked.

"Oh, my god…" I said, when I saw who Rick and Shane where carrying, "DARYL!" Before I knew it my feet were moving I was running towards them. "DARYL!" I yelled.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	19. Temper

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"He's okay, just unconscious," Rick said, trying to calm me down as I ran over.

"Oh my god, Daryl, "I said, putting my hands on his face, "What the hell happened, who the hell shot him?"

"It…it was an accident," Andrea said.

I turned and looked at her. "What did you just say?"

"It…was an accident…I thought he was a walker," she replied.

I looked at Daryl and then back at her. "I _will _deal with you later."

I followed Rick and Shane up in to the house and Hershel got to work on patching Daryl up. "What the hell happened," I asked Glenn, grabbing the front of his shirt before he could scurry away, "And don't you dare try to change the subject Glenn…or I will be shovin' my boot so far up your ass you can taste everything that I've stepped in at this farm."

"Um….Andrea said she saw a walker and when she said she could hit it from the RV, Rick told her no, and then Shane said that we would handle it, and we realized it was Daryl by Andrea didn't know and she took the shot," he said.

I let him go. "Thanks."

"You're not mad?" he asked.

"Nope," I replied, flatly. _'I'm pissed.'_

"Cuts the grid almost in half," Rick said as him, Daryl, and Shane were looking over a map as Daryl's side was getting stitched up.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Daryl said, flinching.

"How's he looking?" Rick asked.

"I had no idea we'd be going through the antibiotics so quickly," Hershel replied, "Any idea what happened to my horse?"

"Yeah, the one who almost killed me?" Daryl asked, "If it's smart, it's left the country."

I turned and left the room and headed towards the front door.

"He okay?" T-Dog asked.

"He's fine," I said, pushing open the front door, "She won't be though."

I took off across the lawn to the RV. I had tunnel vision, and it was aimed at beating the crap out of Andrea.

"Oh, shit!" I heard T-Dog say.

I pulled open the RV door and saw Andrea talking to Dale. She went to say something, but I pulled her out and threw her to the ground.

"Jewels?! What the hell?!" Dale yelled.

I ignored him and just began beating the hell out of Andrea. "HOW DARE YOU!" I screamed, landing punch after punch.

"Jewels! Jewels! Stop!" Someone yelled grabbing me and to pull me back.

_WHAM_

Whoever grabbed me earned an elbow to the face and I continued to beat the shit out of Andrea. I grabbed her head and slammed it back against the ground.

"Get her off of me!" she screamed.

"Jewels! That's enough!" someone said and two pairs of arms pulled me back. I managed to get a kick in and kicked Andrea in the ribs.

Breathing heavy I looked down at a now bruised and bloodied Andrea, Rick and T-Dog holding me back. "Just because…you lost someone…don't mean you get to turn into some rogue trigger happy bitch," I growled, shaking them off of me, "Stick to laundry, only thing you're good at." I spit on her and then headed off towards the woods not caring that I didn't have any weapons on me.

DARYL'S POV

"What the hell happened out there?" I asked, seeing Rick start to pass the room.

"Uh….Jewels she…she beat up Andrea pretty bad," Rick said.

I let out a chuckle. "Where's she now?"

He thought for a minute. "She went for a walk…had to get her head back on straight."

"What do ya mean, a walk?" I asked.

"She went for a walk…" he said, again before leavin' the room.

'_What the hell ain't he tellin' me?'_ I thought.

RICK'S POV

"What the hell just happened?" Lori asked, walking up to me.

"Jewels lashed out, Andrea is fine…she's a bit bloodied up, but she's fine," I replied.

"Where's Jewels now?" she asked.

"She went for a walk, but I need to go find her…she went without any weapons on her," I replied.

"Jesus Christ…" she said.

"It'll be okay, she survived a long time on her own and she'll be fine now…I'll go and bring her back," I promised.

"Okay…okay….just hurry," she said.

I nodded and headed off to find Jewels.

JEWELS' POV

After beating the crap out of Andrea my mind, the tunnel vision, the red I had been seeing began to clear away and I found myself sitting on a rock in the middle of the woods.

No weapons…

In the dark…

In walker infested woods…

_You have to be careful Julianne, if you get angry you'll liable to lash out._

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I yelled, grabbing my head.

Voices from the past; that's all I needed at that point…

FLASHBACK

"You do know why you're here, right Julianne?" the therapist asked, sitting across from me in a large leather chair.

I was sixteen at the time, a quote and quote "fragile" age for a teenage girl. Looking at the woman across from me I wrinkled my nose slightly. Her light blue dress suit was perfectly pressed, black hair pulled back into a high tight bun with a single strand of hair hanging down over the frame of her square rimmed glasses. She was probably nearing her mid-40s and in a town of just shy of 10,000 people, she was the only female therapist that I was able to see.

"My grandparents are worried that I'm gonna turn into my father," I replied, blandly as I put my elbow on the arm of the couch and my head on my hand and looked out the window. It was a sunny day and I was stuck inside talking to some therapist who probably thought she could "fix" everybody that walked through that door. New flash: I didn't need fixing.

"They want to help you find ways to control your temper," she said, "Find ways for you to stay calm in stressful situations."

"I'm perfectly calm," I said, "No temper here…"

"You sent a classmate to the hospital…"

"She shouldn't have done what she did."

"What did she do?"

"Doesn't matter…"

"Obviously it matters enough for you to have…" she stopped and flipped through the file in her lap, "Break two of her ribs, hit her so hard on the side of the head that you rupture her eardrum, break her nose, and leave several bruises on her face."

"She also spit out a couple of teeth, but I'm guessing that's not your point…" I said.

"What got you so angry?" she asked, "You could have gone to juvie on assault charges…whatever it was, it couldn't have been worth it."

I shrugged my shoulders. "She said that the reason that I was living with my grandparents was that my parents didn't love me so they decided to make me someone else's problem."

"Why did that make you so angry?" she asked.

"Why do you think?!" I snapped, "My parents didn't love me! My father beat the crap out of me and my mother was a junkie whore!"

"So it made to angry because you believe that at least part of it was true?" she asked, writing down notes in her small notebook.

"You would too!" I yelled, now standing up.

"When your grandparents came to talk to me, to see if I could help…" she started calmly looking at me from her chair, "They were worried that because of growing up with a father, with an explosive temper…that if you didn't get help soon, because of what you saw…what you were subjected to, that you wouldn't know how to handle anger any other way."

I just stared at her as she talked. "Are they afraid of me?"

"No," she said with a smile, "They're scared for you. Scared that you won't be able to lead a normal life because of what your parents did. Your first eight years of life, all you knew was hate…and they're afraid that you will end up in juvie or get into trouble because of it. You're a smart girl…you get straight A's and you already have scholarships lined up, but if you get in trouble like this again, you could lose all that."

"You can help that not happen again?" I asked in a small voice.

"Yes…but you have to remember…You have to be careful Julianne, if you get angry you'll liable to lash out…no matter what type of help I give you."

END OF FLASHBACK

"What have I done?" I whispered, curling up on the rock. I hadn't had an episode like that since high school; I had managed to keep my temper under check. Probably because I had people around me to help keep me in check and remind me that it wasn't worth thinking about the shit that people might bring up.

My grandparents: once they got me the help I needed, they helped me find other ways to direct my anger other than taking it out on the person that I was angry at.

Monica: she had my back no matter what and I could turn to her when I need someone to vent to and she would always tell me to "go cook something" or after the twins were born she would say "I think the twins need to see their auntie, why don't you go play with 'em". She'd always distract me from whatever/whoever I was angry at and soon my troubles were gone.

They were gone, the world had gone to shit so I never thought that I would have something to be extremely angry over again…at least not like that. But I met Daryl…I hadn't known him for very long, but he was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. I had never met a man like him; he wasn't stuck up, wasn't worried about his looks, didn't give a shit about what anyone thought about him, was outdoorsy, he wanted to protect me and didn't just see me as a piece of ass, and not to mention he was great in bed. My temper had flared when I realized that I could have lost him because of Andrea being stupid.

I just laid there. No tears, no crying…just laid there in a little ball and wondered what was going to happen when I got back to the farm.

DARYL'S POV

"How you feeling?" Carol asked, walking into the bedroom with a tray of food.

I pulled the sheet up so she didn't see my scars. "About as good as I look."

"I brought you some dinner…you must be starving," she said, setting the tray down on the nightstand, "Jewels fix most of it, I think you'll really enjoy it." She went to leave but then she leaned down and kissed the side of my head and I kinda shied away from her.

"Watch out, I got stitches," I said.

"You need to know something…you did more for my little girl today than her own daddy did in his whole life," she said.

"I didn't do anything Rick or Shane wouldn't have done," I whispered.

"I know," she agreed, "You're every bit as good as them, every bit." She was quiet for a minute and then spoke up again. "Jewels told us a little about what happened to her when she was little, her father and all, you're a good man Daryl…she needs you."

"Rick was hiding something from me," I said, before she left the room, "Where is she." I looked over my shoulder at her and she looked slightly guilty.

"She went for a walk…and um…it was in the woods…" she started.

"And?" I asked.

"She didn't take any weapons with her…"

"WHAT?!" I yelled.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	20. Peaches and Guns

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_**THANK YOU TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE LIKED, FOLLOWED, AND REVIEWED MY STORY! *Passes out cookies***_

RICK'S POV

"Jewels! Jewels where are you!" I called out. I had been out in the woods for a good hour and I hadn't come across her. I wasn't real worried about her, the fact that she had survived by herself for so long gave her an advantage even without having any weapons with her. But she was angry…

_Very_ angry…

"Jewels!" I called again, finally coming across a small clearing, "Jewels?" Curled up on a rock across the way was a body, the clothes resembled that of Jewels', as did the shoes…but it was still hard to tell even with the light of the flashlight. "Jewels?" I questioned again.

The woman looked over her shoulder, confirming that it was her, and then turned away again. "Go away…"

"I can't, do that Jewels," I said, walking towards her, "Daryl will be worried 'bout ya." She was quiet. "No one is angry at you for what happened today if that's why you don't want to come back to the farm. We all understand…ya got scared…ya got angry."

She seemed to curl into a tighter ball. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" she whispered, in a tiny voice.

"I know…we all know…" she jumped as I placed my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. I could see even in the darkness that her eyes were dilated and there was almost a fear that she was trying to hide; her hands tightened on the sleeves of her shirt and only released as I pulled my hand away. I had seen that look before…victims of domestic abuse got that look in their eyes in uncomfortable situations. The deer in the headlights look, the withdrawal from people they knew, and the stiffening of the body when someone touched them even if it was someone they knew. Lori had told me that she had been abuse, that it had sounded like she had it rough…but I wouldn't have suspected that a tough girl like her, a tough girl that could handle a guy like Daryl Dixon, would be in this type of state. "Wanna talk? Tell me what happened?"

"I was able to keep my anger in check all these years…but, I snapped…I snapped and it was high school all over again…I…I couldn't hold it back…I couldn't stop myself from being just like him…" she spewed out.

"Who?"

"My father…so much anger, so much hate…no matter what I do, I'll always be like him."

"Honey…Lori told me, that you father was one mean son of a bitch, she didn't give me details, but that anger that you had today…the reason that you did what you did…wasn't because you're like your father. It wasn't meant as something malicious. You were defendin' someone you care about. There ain't much left in this shit hole of a world, and from what I understand, until you met Daryl…you didn't have anyone. Anyone that that big heart of yours could care for and love and vice versa. Daryl's what you got left…everyone understands that." She finally turned her head to look at me, eyes still full of confliction and a hint of fear, but the Jewels that we all knew was comin' back around. "Now, there's a man back on that farm who's gonna be mighty pissed if he finds out you came out here without no weapons."

She thought for a minute and then finally stood up, and we slowly made our way back to the farm, thankfully with no run ins with walkers.

DARYL'S POV

"I have to go and get her," I said trying to push Shane out of my way.

"Man, you ain't in no condition to be lookin' for her," Shane said, "Rick went out to find her, and they'll be back."

"She ain't got no weapons on her!" I snapped.

"She's a smart girl, Daryl," Lori said, "You know that, she survived a long time on her own and even without her weapons I'm sure she can survive until Rick finds her."

"He knows shit about trackin' and he's been gone for a fuckin' hour!" I yelled, grabbing my side in pain, "Son of a bitch,"

"Boy, you need to sit down before you pop your stitches out," Hershel said.

"You know what old man I don't-," I started, but stopped when the door swung open and Rick walked in.

"I found her," he said, moving out of the way allowing Jewels to enter the house.

"Will you move now, jackass?" I asked, Shane pushing past him and grabbing her, pulling her into my chest, "Don't you ever fuckin' do that again."

JEWELS' POV

Daryl had pulled me into his chest and I just stood there. "I'm sorry…"

"Sweetie, are you ok?" Carol asked.

"If I said 'yes'…that would be a lie," I said, turning away from Daryl and heading towards the door, "I'm going to bed."

THE NEXT MORNING

"You gonna open your eyes anytime soon?" a voice asked me, pulling me out of my half sleeping state.

"Why ain't you in the house?" I asked Daryl, who had apparently opted for the more uncomfortable sleeping bag even though he had stitches in his side.

"Don't feel right," he replied, "You all upset, sleeping outside in a chilly tent while I sleep in a comfy bed."

"You have stitches…" I stated.

"Heh, guess that don't matter when I got a pretty girl that I got to watch out for," he said, "Ain't never been able to say that before…"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Never wanted to look out for someone the way I do you…ya got into my head, ya know that right, worked some kinda black magic on me," he said, with a chuckled, "Had a couple of girlfriends…but nothin' to be proud of."

I smiled. "I'm sure they thought you were a great guy."

"I'm sure they thought I was a redneck jackass, with a redneck jackass drunk druggy brother, and that I was cold hearted…"

"They…they just probably didn't and couldn't understand you the way I do."

"That's for sure."

"If it makes a difference…you're the only guy that I ever really truly cared about."

"Bet cha had other boyfriends…what makes me different?"

"What guy wants to _always_ look at a girl with scars? Always deal with a girl with a past that is hard to look past?" I questioned, "Plus I never could find a guy that knew every aspect of hunting that I knew."

He looked at me with a smirk. "So…you really would have dated me?"

"Why do I have to tell you this twice?" I asked.

He grabbed my hand and kissed it. "Because it looks like you broke a couple of bones because you care about me…should have the old man take a look at that."

I pulled my hand back. "I'm fine."

"I'm sure ya are…just think ya ought to have your hand looked at," he said.

"I'll think about it…" I said.

He sighed and looked out the tent and sighed. "Close your eyes…"

"But you wanted me to open 'em," I said confused.

"Just do it…" he whispered.

I did and a few seconds later I heard the tent flap move. "Hey…" I heard Andrea said, "Um…this is not that great, but…"

I felt Daryl move and then heard what sounded like pages flipping. "What, no pictures?"

"I'm so sorry…I feel like shit," she said.

"Yeah, you and me both," Daryl said, "Not to mention you look like shit…she did a number on ya, didn't she?" She was silent and Daryl chuckled. "She saw red…she ain't gonna kill ya the next time she sees ya."

"Yeah…" she said before leaving the tent.

Once I heard her footsteps disappear I opened my eyes. "You ain't gonna kill her right?" he asked.

I sighed. "I can't promise anything."

"That's my girl…" he said, with a cheeky grin.

_Groooooooowl_

"Was that your stomach?" he asked.

"Didn't eat dinner last night," I said, feeling my cheeks turn red.

He laughed. "Well go get yourself somethin' to eat then."

"Okay, okay," I said starting to leave the tent.

"And get that hand takin' care of…you might need it later," he said with a wink.

"Oh…well when you put it that way," I said, going back into the tent and hovering over him and leaning my lips down to his ear, "I have to get it looked at, won't I?"

A small sigh escaped his lips. "Best leave before I lose control…got stitches remember."

"You're at my mercy then…ain't ya?" I purred, before kissing him. I looked him straight in the eyes and then stood up with a smirk on my face.

"That ain't fair…that really ain't fair," he whispered.

"Who said anythin' about fair?" I teased, "Anyway…I'll take good care of ya…once you're in much better shape."

"Christ, woman…" he groaned, looking away from me.

"Don't pout…look forward to what you'll get," I said, before exiting the tent. I went over to the picnic table and plopped down, grabbing a peach that was sitting in the center of the table.

"How did this happen?" Lori asked, Rick seeming to be in a very heated discussion.

"Well, it's my fault," Dale said, "I let him into the RV…he said he wanted a walkie, that you sent him for one."

"So on top of everything else, he lied," Lori growled, looking at a very guilty looking Carl, "What's he thinking?"

"He wants to learn how to shoot. He asked me to teach him," Shane interrupted, "Now it's none of my business, but I'm happy to do it. It's your call."

"I'm not comfortable with it," Lori said. Rick looked at her with a look of "why not?" and Lori just shook her head. "Oh, don't make me out to be the unreasonable one here. Rick?"

"I know…" Rick said, "I have my concerns too, but…"

"There's no but," she snapped, "He was just shot, he's just back on his fee and he wants a gun?"

"Isn't that better than him flinchin' every time he sees one?" I questioned, interrupting the conversation, "Better him be safe around them then accidentally hurtin' himself or others."

She looked at me with anger in her eyes. "I do not want my son carrying a gun, so excuse me if I don't want to take advice from a woman who just about beat someone else's face in."

"Lori, that's not fair," Rick cut in.

"It's fine…" I said, "Deserved that one, I guess…"

"She is right in a way…it is better than him being afraod of 'em," Rick said, "There are guns in camp for a reason. He should learn to handle them safely."

"I don't want my kid walking around with a gun," she said, again.

"But how can you defend that?" he asked, "You can't let him go around without protection."

"He's as safe as he'll ever be right here, Look, everything you're saying makes perfect sense, but it feels wrong…I mean I didn't feel good about him following you out into the woods," she said, "And I wish I'd said something. I should've gone with my gut."

"He's growing up, thank god," he said, "We've got to start treating him more like an adult."

"Then he needs to act like one," she said, looking att Carl, "He's not mature enough to handle a gun."

"I'm not gonna play with it, mom," Carl said, finally trying to defend himself, "It's not a toy. I'm sorry I disappointed you, but I want to look for Sophia and I want to defend out camp. I can't do that without a gun."

"Shane's the best instructor I know," Rick said, "I've seen him teach kids younger than Carl."

Lori thought about it for a minute and then grabbed Carl's chin making sure he was looking her dead in the eyes. "You _will_ take this seriously and you _will_ behave responsibly. And if I hear from anyone in this camp that you're not living up to our expectations…"

"He won't let you down," Rick said.

"Yeah," Carl agreed.

"Now if you're gonna do this, you listen to Shane," Rick said.

"Okay, dad," Carl agreed.

"All right?" Rick asked Lori.

She looked from him to Carl. "You be careful."

After some conversation about the plan for gun training Carl came and sat across from me. "Hey, Jewels…"

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I know my mom snapped at you, but thanks," he said.

"For what?" I questioned.

"You know…for sticking up for me," he replied, with a small shrug.

"I wasn't stickin' up for you…you need to learn how to handle the weapons properly," I said, "The fact that you aren't afraid of them even after bein' shot and want to be around them makes it even more important that you learn."

"So that…" he started.

"No, it wasn't tryin' to help you…the reason I said what I did was for your protection, and everyone else's protection as well…remember this guns don't kill people, people kill people whether it accidental or on purpose. The better you know how to handle a gun, the less likely there is to be an accident."

He was silent not knowing how to react to the fact that I hadn't actually been on his side.

"I went to live with my grandparents when I was eight and a lot of the meat that we ate with either the livestock on the farm or the stuff that my granddaddy hunted. My granddaddy wasn't exactly a young man so when I saw that he was doing all the huntin' by himself, I told him that I wanted to help he asked me if I would rather learn to hunt with a bow or with a gun. I chose a bow since my father had been in the military so I didn't really like the thought of usin' a gun like he did," I stopped and leaned forward, "Plus I read a lot and thought I would look like an elf runnin' through the forest with a bow and arrow." He let out a laugh and I smiled. "But because he didn't keep his guns locked up all the time and the fact that he had a lot of them, he made sure that I knew how to use them properly…you're around guns every day. You should know how to use 'em properly should you every absolutely need to use one. Got it?"

"Got it…" he replied.

"Good…now go get ready for your training…I have to go talk to Hershel about my damn hand…"

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: Hope you liked the chapter! Sorry this one didn't get out as fast as the others, I've been a bit busy and I've started my holiday decorating! Oh yeah…the Christmas tree is already up xD it's that time of year people…and I hope to find Daryl Dixon under my Christmas tree this year ;) **_


	21. Everybody Wants to Talk About Daryl

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

_SNAP_

"SON OF A BITCH!" I yelled, "Oh my god…that fuckin' hurt."

"I had to reset the bone, you should have known what you were in for," Hershel said as he began to wrap my hand, "Obviously I don't have an X-ray machine so I can't tell you how bad the break is, but I can feel that your pinky is broken and your ring finger was dislocated. I wouldn't try hunting with this bum hand." He finished wrapping my hand then pulled out a pill bottle.

"Those pain meds?" I questioned.

"Yes, you're gonna need them," he replied.

"Give me an aspirin or somethin', I ain't takin' pain meds," I said.

"Your hands gonna give you fits," he said.

"Got addiction problems in my family," I said, "I already admit to being able to hold my alcohol well, but I ain't never touched the pain meds…one of my mama's addictions."

He reopened the drawer and pulled out a different bottle labeled ASPIRIN.

"Thank you," I said as he handed me two pills, "Sorry for taking up your time."

"It's not a problem," he said. He was quiet for a moment and then looked at me. "That Daryl boy is with you, right?"

"Yeah, he is…why?" I questioned.

"If you don't mind, I ask that you keep an eye on him…the horse he took yesterday, he took it without asking," he said.

I thought for a second. "Hershel, this farm…I grew up on a farm like this and I have a strong sense of respect for what you do on this farm. The fields, the cattle, the chickens, doin' your own maintenance; I know how much hard work that is because I saw my grandparents do it every day and I even helped with it. Now I will talk to Daryl, but…I can't promise anything 'cause I ain't a babysitter and when he gets somethin' in his head, it's real hard to stop him from doin' it…especially without it causin' a fight. But, I'll talk to him." I left the house before he could say anything else. I wasn't Daryl's babysitter, I didn't keep a leash on him; the only thing I could do was talk to him and hope that he took what I said into consideration.

I went and sat on a stump overlooking the cattle pasture. It was a good spot to just sit and think and I had a lot of thinking to do.

"Jewels…" I heard from behind me.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Carol with a conflicted look on her face. "Hey Carol, what's wrong?"

"It's about Daryl," she replied.

"Everybody wants to talk to me about Daryl today," I said, with a sigh.

"It's about him getting hurt…I don't want him going out there again, especially not when he's not fully healed. I went to check on him and make sure he didn't need anything and he told me that tomorrow he wanted to get back to the search. We don't even know if we're going to find her."

I looked her sadly. I knew it was hard for her to say that, but the fact that she was comin' to that realization meant that she knew the longer that Sophia was gone, the less likely we were to find her.

"I…don't know if we're going to find her, and we can't afford to lose Daryl…you can't afford to lose Daryl. Please, please talk to him…tell him it's not worth his life."

"I'll talk to him Carol…I promise," I said.

"Thank you," she said, coming over and hugging me, "Thank you."

LATER THAT DAY

'_Just keep peeling, just keep peeling, just keep peeling, peeling, peeling, peeling, what do we do? We peel, peel, peel, we love to peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!' _I chanted in my head as I sloppily peeled potatoes. The twin's favorite movie had been _Finding Nemo_ and I don't know how many times those little ones begged to watch that movie. Right now though, the "just keep swimming" song was helping me get though painfully peeling potatoes. Even though my hand was wrapped up I had offered to peel potatoes the best I could for Lori.

"I know why you did it!" I heard and I looked and saw Maggie pacing back and forward in front of me with this pissed off look on her face.

"Um…did what?" I asked.

"Beat that…that blonde chick's face in," she replied.

"Okay…" I said, highly confused at that point.

"That bitch…Lori," she said, almost spitting out her name, "Set Glenn to get some stupid abortion pills and she almost got us killed. I care so much for Glenn and I don't want to see him get killed, but everyone treats him like walker bait. I just…I just wanted to throw her down and beat her."

"Abortion pills?" I questioned.

"What? You didn't know?" she asked, "That bitch is pregnant."

I almost dropped the potato I was holding. _'What the hell…'_ I thought, not believing what I was hearing. "Well…I didn't know," I said, "And I'm sorry you felt the way I did…it's not a pleasant feeling…." I stood up and grabbed the potato bucket. "I'll talk to you later." I went back to the camp and set the bucket next to Lori.

"Thanks," she said.

"Whatever…" I said, sourly.

"What's wrong with you?" Daryl asked. He had moved from the tent to a chair and had been sitting just outside the tent.

"Nothing…everything is just peachy," I said, walking into the tent.

"Doesn't sound like it…" he commented.

"I said I'm fine!" I snapped, zipping the tent shut and throwing myself down onto the sleeping bags. I couldn't believe how stupid Lori was being. If she was pregnant she should be tellin' people instead of tryin' to "take care" of things herself. I wasn't against abortion, every woman has a right to choose what she wants to do when it comes to her uterus, but maybe it was the fact that I had never got the chance to have my own kids that I was pissed that she was even considerin' a kid at all or killin' it. Now of all times.

Maybe I was being selfish, but before the world went to shit, that's what it wanted. A child of my own…a family of my own…a chance to prove everyone wrong. I love Monica's little ones and I wanted that for myself. Lori had Carl…I just wanted that for myself…a baby…but that was too much to ask for now.

The tent unzipped and Daryl walked in, holding his side. "Wanna tell me what that was about?"

"Not particularly," I replied, as he laid down next to me.

"Obviously it's somethin'," he said.

"Lori's pregnant," I whispered.

"What?" he asked.

"Lori's pregnant," I whispered again, "Pisses me off." I turned away from him and he laughed as he wrapped an arm around my waist. "It's not funny…ain't the type of world for a baby, she's thinking about getting' rid of it, abortion pills and all…but a baby."

I felt his breath on the back of my neck. "Hey, I know what you're thinkin' 'bout…ya wanted kids of your own, and that chance slipped away because the world went to hell."

"It's selfish, ain't it?"

"What is?"

"Lori's the one havin' to make all these big decisions and here I am, wishin' that I was the one doin' that."

"Ya wanted to be a mom…you're 32 right? Ain't nothin' wrong with wantin' to be a mom."

I chuckled and rolled over to face him. "You said that all your other girlfriends would have found ya to be cold hearted, I don't believe that for a second."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

"'Cause you make me feel better so easily. Sayin' such nice and sweet things even though you're this rough and tough, dirty mouthed redneck," I teased.

"Just tellin' ya how it is," he said, "But don't go tellin' everyone that I'm all sweet and nice around ya."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I said, wrapping my arms around him, "I'd like to keep that Daryl all to myself…and thank you."

"Like I said, just tellin' ya how it is. Ain't nothin' wrong with ya wantin' to be a mom…I mean, it's somethin' that all women want right? A family of their own. Kids of their own. That perfect wedding," he said, "Was it that dancer Merle was datin' went on about once when she found out she was goin' to be an aunt. Oh, right…she wanted to one day have the chance to feel a life growin' within her. To have a connection with someone that no one else could."

"I'm guessin' by dancer you don't mean ballroom dancer," I joked.

"Uumm…in a way you could call her a _ball_room dancer," he joked.

"Oh my god, ew, Daryl!" I said, slapping his arm.

"What? You said it," he argued.

"Naaaaaaaaastay!" I said.

"Well you can't deny the facts," he said.

"God, men I swear," I said, putting my head against his chest.

"Not my fault she took off her clothes for a livin'," he said.

"Stoooooop," I said.

"Got that smile back on your face," he teased.

"Shut up…asshole," I joked.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	22. Secrets of the Barn

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

The next day I was feeling better. I had gotten a good night's sleep and I wasn't worried about anything.

"Knock it off, ya droppin' eggs down the back of my shirt," I said, shaking scrambled eggs out of the back of my shirt.

We were all gathered around the fire pit eating breakfast. Daryl was feeling a little better, his side still sore but he was movin' around better. He was sitting in the camping chair and I was sitting on a box on the ground leaning back against him.

"Sorry," he said.

"Oh…that was convincin'," I said, rollin' my eyes.

He reached around me and stole a piece of sausage off of my plate. "Don't be sassy…"

"Hey…I was going to eat that!" I said, turning and looking at him.

He shrugged. "It was good."

"Um…guys…" we heard Glenn say as he walked over. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked him. He nervously rubbed his hands together, and looked at all of us with an almost guilty look on his face. "So…the barn is full of walkers."

Next thing we know we're all down at the barn and Shane slowly walks up to the barn and then jumps back quickly when something growled in his face.

"You cannot tell me you're all right with this," he said looking at Rick.

"No I'm not," Rick replied, "But we're guests here. This isn't our land."

"This is our lives!" Shane snapped.

"Lower your voice," Lori said.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea chimed in.

"It ain't right, not remotely," Shane complained, "Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've got to go. Now we have been talking about For Benning for a long time."

'_God, not this again,'_ I thought, grabbing my stomach.

"We can't go," Rick stated.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked.

"Because my daughter is still out there," Carol said.

'_And what was this about maybe not finding her?'_ I thought.

"Okay…okay, I think it's time that we all start to just consider the other possibility," Shane said, beginning to get agitated.

"We're not leaving Sophia behind," Carol said.

"I'm close to finding this girl," Daryl snapped, "I just found her damn doll two days ago."

"You found her doll, Daryl!" Shane yelled, "That's what you did. You found a doll."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" he yelled back.

"I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead, its in the first 48 hours," Shane said.

"Shane, stop," Rick said, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Let me tell you something else, man," Shane said, starting to get in Daryl's face, "If she was alive out there and saw you coming, with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck…she would run the other direction."

A shouting match ensued and we were having to pull Shane and Daryl away from each other before it became physical.

"Daryl, knock it off," I said, pulling him away. I finally got him back. "Take a walk Daryl," I said, pointing away from the barn.

"Whatever…" he said, almost stomping off like a small child.

"I'll deal with him in a few minutes," I mumbled to myself.

"Now…just let me talk to Hershel," Rick said, "Let me figure this out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!" Shane snapped.

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it," Rick replied, "This is his land."

"Hershel sees those thing in there as people…sick people," Dale said, cutting in, "His wife…his stepson."

"You knew?" Rick asked.

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel," Dale replied, with a Dale-like shrug.

"And you waited the night?" Shane asked, almost sounding disgusted.

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did…I was waiting till this morning to say something," he said, "But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"This is crazy, Rick, if Hershel thinks those things are alive or not…" Shane said.

There was growling from inside the barn and pushing on barn doors.

'_They're like any predator,'_ I thought, _'They smell fear.'_

I turned on my heels and went to go find Daryl. Not finding him, I remembered what Carol had said about him wanting to restart his search for Sophia and I ran to the stables. "Daryl!" I yelled. I ran into the stables seeing him carrying a saddle. He grunted as he threw the saddle up onto the saddle rack. "You can't go back out there."

"I'm fine," he growled.

"Hershel said you need heal," I said, "You ain't in no shape to be runnin' around in the woods."

"Yeah, I don't care."

"Well I do. Rick's going to follow the trail."

"Yeah well, I ain't gonna sit around and do nothing."

"No, you're gonn go out there and get yourself hurt even worse. We don't know if we're gonna find her, Daryl."

He look at me, an almost disgusted look on his face. "What?"

"We don't…and despite what Carol said out there, she don't know either…she told me that yesterday. We lost Sophia…we can't lost you too."

He threw the saddle off the saddle rack and grabbed his side groaning.

"Are you alright?" I asked, running over to him.

"Just leave me be," he said, pushing me away, "Stupid bitch."

"Daryl…" I whispered, watching him limp off before clenching my fists and following him. "Daryl Dixon get your ass back here!" I followed him. Didn't know where he was goin', probably tryin' to get away from me at that point, but I was followin' him.

"You see it?" he asked pointing to a bush.

"See what?" I asked.

"The flower," he replied, "It's called a Cherokee Rose. I gave one to Carol."

"You did, did ya?" I asked, crossin' my arms and raising and eyebrow at him.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, woman…there's a reason why I gave it to her. The story is that when American soldiers were moving Indians off their land the Cherokee mothers were grieving and crying so much 'cayse they were losing their little ones along the way. A lot of them just disappeared. So the elders, they said a prayer; asked for a sign to uplift the mothers' spirits, give them strength and hope. The next day this rose started to grow right where the mothers' tears fell…"

'_I think I just fell in love,'_ I thought. Letting how sweet Daryl actually was sink in.

"I'll find her," he said, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was silent between us for a minute when he finally looked back at me. "Hey, I'm sorry about what happened this morning…what I said."

"It's fine, I know you didn't mean it," I said, "But I have to ask you somethin'…you wanted to look for her. Why? She ain't your kin or anythin'."

"'Cause I think she's still out there," he said, "And, truth is, what else do I got to do? Besides you."

I laughed. "If we do find her…we may not like the result…you do know that right."

"Yeah…but at least we'll know the truth, and not leave knowing that we might have left a little girl behind all by herself," he said.

I reached over and grabbed his hand. He looked at our hands but then gripped my hand, turning it so that his fingers were laced with mine. "Want to take a walk before we head back to the farm?" I asked, "Cool our heads…and, maybe we'll see something, ya never know."

"Yeah…sounds good," he agreed allowing me to lead him down the trail.

After a short walk around the perimeter of the farm we made our way back up to the house. I felt a slight sinking feeling when he released my hand before we got near everyone, but I understood, he had to keep up his tough guy appearance and not show his soft side to anyone.

"Where is everyone?" Andrea asked, walking over T-Dog not far behind.

"You haven't seen Rick?" Glenn asked.

"He went off with Hershel. We were supposed to leave a couple of hours ago," she replied.

"Yeah you were," Daryl said, getting irritated again, "What the hell?"

'_Damn it, I just got him calmed down,'_ I thought, crossing my arms.

"Rick told us he was going out," Carol saod.

"Damn it! Isn't anybody taking this seriously? We got us a damn trail Oh, here we go," Daryl said, before turning and seeing Shane walking up the small hill towards the house with the bag of guns, "What's all this?"

"You with me, man?" Shane asked, tossing him a gun.

"Yeah," Daryl said.

"Time to grow up," he said, before turning to Andrea, "You already got yours?"

"Yeah, where's Dale?" she asked.

"He's on his way," he replied, tossing the rest of us guns.

I caught the shot gun with reluctance. I knew what this was about; it was about the walkers in the barn. But my understanding was that there had been no decision from Rick, so I wasn't sure about this whole "grab your torch and pitch forks and take matters into your own hands" (so to speak) routine that Shane was starting up.

"Thought we couldn't carry," T-Dog stated, hopefully on the same page as me.

"We can and we have to," Shane replied, "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't."

"We've been here for days, Shane," I said, "We had no idea that they were in there until today, that barn is secure, we can make it more secure somehow if you're too much of a pussy to deal with it, but if we go over there and break open that lock, guns blazin' Hershel is gonna kick us all outta here."

"You're as delusional as Rick, thinkin' we'll be safe with those things inside that barn," he said walking over and getting in my face.

"Get out of her face, man!" Daryl said, pushing him away from me.

"Stupid!" Shane said looking at me, before turning to Glenn, "How about you, man? You gonna protect yours?" Glenn nodded and he handed him a gun before turning to Maggie. "Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop?" she asked, "Jewels is right."

"I've been doin' that a lot lately," I commented.

"You do this, hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight," she said.

"We have to stay, Shane," Carl piped in.

"What is this?" Lori asked walking out of the house and going to Carl, "We ain't going anywhere, okay?"

"Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand. Okay? He…well, he's gonna have to," he went over to Carl and kneeled down in front of him holding a gun out, "Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right? Huh? Now I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."

"What the hell, Shane?!" I snapped.

"Rick said no guns," Lori said, "This is not your call, this is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit!" T-Dog said, causing us all to turn and see something we defiantly weren't expecting to see that day.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	23. Secrets of the Barn Revealed

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy came out of the woods leading two walkers on snare poles.

"What is that?" Shane said, running off towards them everyone running behind them, "What is that?"

"Shane!" Lori yelled, trying to stop him.

"What the hell are you doing?" he yelled at Rick.

"Shane, just back off!" Rick said.

"Why do your people have guns?" Hershel asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Shane said, started to jump around like a high school boy getting ready for a fight, "You see? You see what they're holding onto?"

"I see _who_ I'm holding onto," Hershel argued.

"No, man, you don't," Shane snapped.

"Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk," Rick tried to reason.

"What you want to tlak about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna geel nothing for them 'cause all they do, they kill!" Shane yelled, "These things right here, they're the things that killed Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill us."

"Shane, shut up!" Rick yelled.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something. Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?" Shane asked, taking his gun and shooting the female walker that Hershel was holding in the chest.

"No! Stop it!" Rick yelled.

"Jesus Christ, he's fuckin' lost it," I said.

"That's three rounds in the chest. Could someone who's alive, could they just take that?! Why is it still coming?" he unloaded more rounds into the walker, "That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?" More rounds…

"Shane, enough!" Rick yelled.

"Yeah, you're right, man, that is enough," he said walking past the walker putting a bullet through its head.

The walker fell to the ground and Hershel falling to his knees in disbelief. I think this was the first time he actually realized that something wasn't right about the walkers. They weren't sick people…there wasn't a cure for whatever was happening. Once they turned, they were gone forever. Jenner, as much as I hated to admit that that psycho bastard was right, in a way he was…once someone turned, they lost that _you_ part of the brain that made someone who they really were. Everyone in that barn, Hershel's wife, his stepson, his friends…they weren't the people that he remembered. They were beings that only purpose was to kill and eat the living.

"Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us," Shane started ranting, "Enough! Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fight right here, right now." He grabbed a pickaxe and ran over to the barn and started to beat at the locks on the barn.

"Take the snare pole Hershel, take the snare pole, Hershel, listen to me, man please. Take it now. Hershel! Take!" Rick yelled, trying to snap Hershel out of his daze so that he could take care of Shane, "No, Shane. Do not do this, brother. Wait!"

"Don't do it!" Glenn yelled.

"Rick!" Lori yelled, trying to get Rick to do something.

"Please!" he yelled.

"Come on. Come on, we're out here," Shane said, egging the walkers on.

"This is not this way! Please!" Rick yelled, but obviously not getting through to him.

The walkers pushed their way out of the barn, and though I felt that Shane's whole approach to this situation was very _very_ wrong. Fight or flight took over and I took a stance next to Daryl and started shooting. I couldn't make out what people were yelling over the gun fire, but just kept firing. Blood from the walkers flying in every direction before…_silence_

Everything was silent as the dust settled and then we heard a lone low growling coming from the barn and the doors were pushed opened again.

'_Oh no…Sophia,'_ I thought seeing the little girl we were all hoping to find safe and sound, shuffle out of the barn. She was a walker…and she had been in that barn this whole time.

"Sophia? Sophia! Oh no. Sophia. Sophia. No," Carol sobbed running towards her. Daryl caught her before she could get over to her and she fell to the ground, Daryl still holding her back. "Sophia…"

Rick decided to do what he had promised that he would do. Worst case scenario…you do what needs to be done. And he walked over to Sophia, and shot her, putting her out of her misery.

"Don't look. Don't look," Daryl said to Carol, helping her up from the ground and turning her away from the scene.

Beth now was crying and heading towards the pile of walkers.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Rick said, trying to pull her back, only to get knocked away.

"Ma…" she said softly, walking over and pulling the other walker bodies off of her. Suddenly there was growling and Annette tried to attack her. T-Dog and Rick pulled Beth away from Annette and Andrea grabbed a pickaxe and was about to hit Annette with it…

_GUNSHOT_

Andrea looked down at the now motionless Annette before looking up to see where the gunshot had come from. When she looked up she made eye contact with me as I held the shot gun that was pointed at Annette.

"You could have shot me," she snarled, putting down the pickaxe.

"Worse things could have happened," I said, lowering the shot gun and heading back up towards the camp and into the RV where Carol was now sitting in silence. I set down the shotgun on the kitchenette counter and sat across from her.

It was silent as we sat there. I didn't say anything, I didn't think that anything really could be said at that point. For most of us I think after the first few hours most of us had a dwindling hope that we would find her safe and sound. We kept that small spark of hope alive that we would find her because hope is really the only thing we have to hang onto these days, and this is Carol's little girl that we're talking about as well.

Daryl came into the RV a few minutes later and sat on the counter. Like me he just sat there in silence; there really was nothing to be said at that point.

We probably sat there for a good two hours when Lori finally popped her head in. "They're ready, come on."

Carol look over her shoulder at her and shook her head. "Why?"

"'Cause that's your little girl," Daryl said.

"That's not my little girl," she argued quietly, "That's some other thing. My Sophia was alone in the woods. All this time I thought…she didn't cry herself to sleep. She didn't go hungry. She didn't try and find her way back. Sophia died a long time ago."

Lori just stared at her for a minute before lowering her head and leaving the RV without another word. Daryl then left, a pissed off look on his face.

I decided to sit with Carol for a little while longer, before finally she got up and left saying that she needed some air.

"Be careful," I said, giving her back a small rub.

She gave a small nod and walked off and I went to go find Daryl, but when I got to where our tent was _supposed_ to be it wasn't there. I looked around and finally found Daryl and all our stuff over by an old stone stove.

"What's with the move?" I asked.

"Had to get away from them," he said, fashioning a branch into an arrow with his knife, "You can go back if you want, sure they have another tent."

"Don't do this," I said, "I know you're upset…hell we all are, but you do not need to try and separate yourself from everyone."

He stood up. "I don't give a damn about those _people_ right now. I risked my neck and for what? Nothin'! She was in that barn the whole fuckin' time! Fuck this shit…you and me…we could leave all them idiots behind and be fine on our own. Not have to worry someone other than ourselves."

"You really think that?" I asked, seeing the anger in his eyes, "You saw that herd on the highway…you think two people could survive something like that? Think Daryl think! We are stronger in a group. I've learned that since I've been with the group, I've learned that since I've been with you." I reached up and touched his face. "Don't go pullin' away from us…don't do it."

He turned away from me and sat back down. "If you're that concerned about them, why don't ya go help them out instead of botherin' me with this Kumbaya shit?"

"You thinkin' 'bout leavin'?" I asked.

"Debatin' it," he said, "Not worth stayin' if I'm just gonna be some errand boy."

"Okay Daryl, you just sit out here on your pity pot, but let me know when and if you get you big boy britches put back on…" I said before walking into the tent and plopping down on to the sleeping bags. I was pissed. After all the hard work he put in, he would just turn his back on everyone just because of this one set back. Sure it was a huge set back and a big blow to everyone. But he was just gonna be an idiot.

That wasn't my biggest issue at that moment though…

My hand had been doing fine earlier in the day so I hadn't bothered taking aspirin, but the kickback from the shotgun had taken a toll on my hand. I began to remove the bandage, the pain increasing with every movement. Getting the bandage off I looked at my multicolored hand. _'Shit…'_ I thought, pulling my hand to my chest, _'Fuckin' shit.'_

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: Movin' right along do do do do do do…okay! Thanks for all the reviews, follows, etc. if at any point anyone has any ideas for my story and would like to share them in a PM or leave them in a review if that's what ya wanna do :) **_


	24. I'm Gonna Take Care of Ya

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

I hadn't realized that I had passed out until I woke up and saw Daryl next to me, rewrapping my hand.

"What happened?" I asked, quietly.

"Lori found you in here all passed out cold, holdin' your arm to your chest, lookin' like you was in pain," he replied softy, "She came to ask ya to talk some sense into me or somethin' like that." Once he was done with my hand I tried to sit up, but he pushed me back. "She said you had a fever, said it was probably the broken bone plus stress…happened to Carl once. Ya need to get your rest. I have aspirin and antibiotics for ya but you can them in a bit."

"Any other instructions, Dr. Dixon?" I joked, ignore the doctor's orders and reaching for the medicine and taking it.

He reached down and ran his fingers threw my hair. "You ain't the only one that don't want to lose someone they care about. I need ya to rest up and get better." He was being extremely honest at that point so I knew he was worried.

"I'm sorry I worried ya," I apologized, reaching up and grabbing his hand.

"Better be," he said, a small smirk appearing on his face, but his eyes still full of worry, "I lost Merle…can't lose my girl too. I'm gonna go catch us some dinner, you get some sleep."

"Yes sir," I said, closing my eyes and he left the tent. I fell asleep pretty quickly, but woke up a couple of raised voices.

"If you spent half your time minding your daughter's business instead of sticking your nose in everybody else's, she'd still be alive!" I heard Daryl snap.

"Go ahead," I heard Carol say her voice low, but strong.

"Go ahead and what? I mean just go! I don't want you here! You're a real piece of work, lady…what, are you gonna make this about my daddy or some crap like that?" Daryl snapped, getting angrier by the second.

I shakily made my way to opening of the tent. It had been a while since I had had a fever so that along with the pain in my hand that was radiating up into my arm was killing me.

"Man, you know Jack. You're afraid 'cause you're all alone. You got no husband, no daughter. You don't know what to do with yourself. You ain't my problem! Sophia wasn't mine! All you had to do was keep an eye on her!"

"Daryl…" I said, managing to step out of the tent, "What's going on?" I went to take a step but lost my balance.

He caught me and look down at me, eyes full of an un-Daryl like concern. "You should be lyin' down…"

"What's wrong with her?" Carol asked looking at me with a worried look.

"She's just got a fever," Daryl snapped, "Now would ya back off?! Ya couldn't even take care of ya own…don't try and go take care of my girl."

"She's just tryin' to help," I whispered, leaning against his chest.

"She needs to just back off is what she needs to do," he said before helpin' me back into the tent. He got me back down on the sleeping bags before I fell down and he looked down at me. "Ya look worse than ealier…"

"Ain't had a fever in a long while," I said, "My diet also ain't what it was…I didn't eat all this canned shit every day. When you're a chef you don't touch the canned and boxed shit. You get fresh veggies and meat, make your own pasta…"

"That why that food the other night was so good?" he asked.

"Bourbon sautéed beef," I said softy, feelin' sleeping again, "I felt happy just bein' in the kitchen again…just wished I could've made dessert…I love." I stopped to yawn. "I love makin' desserts. Reminds me of cookin' with my grandma."

"Hey…don't mind anythin' that happened out there," he said, knowin' that I would probably be bringin' up the subject in the mornin' if he tried to let it go, "I'm gonna take care of ya, got that."

"I know that, Daryl," I said softly, my eyes drifting shut as I scooted closer to him, "Will you stay with me for a little bit?" I knew I sounded like a small child that just wanted to have someone close to them when they didn't feel good, but hey…who says it's bad to want your man close to you when you feel like crap?

"Till you fall asleep," he agreed.

DARYL'S POV

I watched Jewels as her breath slowed and she drifted off to sleep. I had meant all that I said when I promised that I was gonna take care of her; it was almost sickening knowin' how much this girl had changed me since I met her. When I met her she was just another person tryin' to survive, but then she was more like me than any other woman could possibly ever be.

'_I ain't no goddamn knight in shinin' armor, you ain't no goddamn princess, and this sure as hell ain't a fairytale we're livin' in…' _I thought before moving some hair out of her face. "I'm gonna take care of ya, 'cause you're the only thing that really matters to me now…got that?" She moved closer to me and I wrapped my arm around her. "Take that as a 'yes'…"

I decided to stay with her a little longer and just held her. If Merle was around and found out I was all lovey dovey cuddlin' with a girl who was sick he'd probably take me out back, rough me up a bit, and tell me that no bitch is worth this kind of trouble.

He didn't know her like I do though…he just saw her as something he could use and then throw away even if he had to take it by force.

He didn't know her though…but I do…she's a tough girl with a tough past but she can throw the punches, hunt like a pro, and a body to die for.

She stirred a little but she had a slight smile on her face. _'Must be feelin' a bit better.'_

I debated on whether or not to get back to that whole huntin' idea that I had, but sleep took over me now…

MORNING

JEWELS' POV

The next morning I woke up and felt surprisingly better, and not surprisingly _alone_…I stepped out of the tent and looked around. _'Must of gone huntin','_ I thought not seein' Daryl in the general vicinity. I notice by the fire a tightly sealed container with a note attached to it.

_Gone hunting, here's some food. Rest._

_-Daryl_

"Straight to the point…" I said, grabbing the container and the fork nearby before make the what seemed like forever trek to the house where I found Lori in the kitchen.

"Hey there," Lori said, "Feeling better?"

"Much…actually," I replied, hopping on the counter and opening the container to find some squirrel stew, "Didn't mean to worry, y'all."

"You're fine," she replied, "Carl broke his arm when he was younger, got a high fever a couple days after the fact…by the way I've been meaning to talk to you, 'bout the other day when I snapped at you…"

"It's no problem," I said with a mouth full of stew, "I understand, you're mom and you're gonna worry. But I was on your side…not the 'shield him from the dangers of life' side, 'cause ya can't exactly do that anymore, but the 'safety' side of things. I sometimes tend to speak out at the wrong time."

"It was just a tense moment…"

"Like I said, it's no problem."

"So I heard Daryl snapped at Carol."

"He's angry at the world again…he just about got killed lookin' for Sophia and she was in the barn the whole time. He's a bit sour about it right now, but he'll come back around."

"He sounded a bit more than sour when I tried to get him to go look for Rick."

I stoped eating and thought back to when my grandparents died in the car crash. "You know the five stages of grieving?"

"Used to…before now, haven't had anyone die on me…I mean I thought Rick did, but you know…" she replied.

"Stage one is 'denial and isolation'; obviously he's skipped the denial, but has seemingly isolated himself on the other side of the farm…and me as well. Stage two is 'anger'…"

"He has obviously hit that stage."

"No kidding…stage three is 'bargaining'; the "if only" sentences come into play and Daryl said something to Carol like "if ya had spent more time mindin' your daughter's business rather than everyone else's" or somethin' like that…but I think he said that more out of anger than anything. Stage four is 'depression'; if he hits that stage it will not be pretty. And stage five is 'acceptance'."

"You've seemed to come around to stage five pretty easily."

"My granddaddy did a lot of search and rescue stuff, and I hate to say this but Shane is right in the fact that leads are better within the first 48 hours…'specially in the woods."

She frowned. "You've seen this stuff before."

"Mostly heard about the aftermath," I replied, resuming the eating of my stew, "My granddaddy would allow me to help sometimes with the searches, but after the first couple of days he would tell me that I had to get back to my life and let the adults handle things. Sometimes there are good outcomes and sometimes there are bad."

"They raised you right, ya know…um, Rick told me what happened, in the woods," she said softly, setting down the dish she had been drying, "You ain't nothin' like what you said your daddy was."

"I keep gettin' that from people…but I think for the first time, how Rick put it, I really believed it myself," I said, looking down at the floor, "I'll admit, I don't like Andrea. At all, I think she's self-centered and only thinks about what benefits her, and she thinks she has good intentions but really she's just a whiney little bitch that's lost it since her sister died. But her shootin' at Daryl, when she was specifically told not to shoot…it just sent my blood boillin'. Knowin' that I could have lost him because she thought she could thing she could 'save the day' tryin' to be some type of post-apocalyptic Annie Oakley. Just pisses me so bad."

"You really don't like her do you?" she asked tryin' to hide a laugh.

"No I don't and here's the thing," I said, "The reason I came back…even though I was so pissed off at her…so pissed off at myself for losing my temper for the first time in years and worried that I was really like my father. Rick told me that I wasn't like him because I didn't do what I did out of maliciousness, I did it cause I was defendin' someone I care about. No one has ever said that to me before. So one has ever really drawn that line between me and my father."

"Rick's good that way," she said with a smile, "Now I've got to go check on Beth and see if she's eaten."

"Okay, I'll be here…eatin' my stew," I replied.

Lori left and a couple minutes later came back with a food tray and went to empty it but stopped and looked at it strangely.

"Somethin' wrong?" I asked. She didn't answer but turned and left the kitchen only to come running back through a couple minutes later. "Lori, Lori what's wrong?" I asked, as she ran out the door after dropping a knife into the sink.

'_Uh oh,'_ I thought, knowing full well that she had just come from Beth's room.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	25. HALLELUJAH!

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"Where's Hershel?" Andrea asked, as her, Lori, and I stood in the kitchen listening to Maggie and Beth arguing.

"He doesn't want to find out yet," Lori replied, finishing up that dishes she hadn't earlier, "It's a family affair. We'll let them work it out."

"That's working it out?" Andrea asked, as the yelling got louder.

"When Beth stops fighting, that's when it's time to worry," Lori said.

"When she stops fighting, that means she don't care about what people are tryin' to say to her 'cause she shut down," I said, agreeing with Lori, "Means she's decided that it's not even worth the discussion."

"This could've been handled better," Andrea said, shaking her head.

"How so?" Lori asked.

"You shouldn't have taken the knife away," she replied.

"Excuse me?" Lori asked.

"I told you she lost it," I said, looking at Lori.

"You were wrong," Andrea said, "Like Dale taking my gun. That wasn't his decision. She has to choose to live on her own. She has to find her own reasons."

"Want me to tie a noose for her?" Lori asked, setting the plates she was holding down with a loud thunk.

"If she's serious, she'll figure out a way," Andrea said.

"Doesn't mean I can't stop her or let her know that I care," Lori argued.

"That has nothing to do with it, Lori….she has so many choices in front of her, and she believes the best one is suicide," Andrea said.

"That is not an option," Lori said.

"It's an option…" I said, cutting in causing Lori to look at me in disbelief, "But…" I turned and looked Andrea dead in the eye. "This isn't someone who, unlike you, had a few days to stew on the fact that she lost someone she loved and had a complete mental breakdown over it and decided 'well, goodbye cruel world'…this is a young girl who just yesterday mornin' she was, for the most part, happy and had a glimmer of hope that maybe her mother would get better. She hadn't seen the world we had until Shane decided to go all caveman and really put us all at risk. She had two severe blows at once, for once would ya just think about someone other than yourself."

"She doesn't need to be yelled at or treated like a child!" she said.

"Maybe not…but she needs someone to snap her back to reality!" I snapped.

"No, Jewels…she needs a loaded gun," Lori interrupted, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"You're right, solve everything," I agreed.

She then looked at Andrea with disgust. "You understand if I don't send you in there."

Andrea's lip curled. "I came through it."

I clicked my tongue and was about to say something in regards to that completely ridiculous comment, when Lori took the words right out of my mouth. "And became such a productive member of the group…let Maggie handle this her way."

"I contribute," Andrea retorted, "I help keep this place safe."

"You have got to be kidding me," I sneered, not being able to hold it back.

"The men can handle this on their own…they don't need your help," Lori said, in a low almost warning tone.

"I'm sorry…and what would you have me do?" Andrea asked.

"Are you fuckin' serious right now?" I asked in disbelief, before looking at Lori, "Did she really just say that?"

"Oh, there's plenty of work to go around," Lori said, before looking at me with a small roll of her eyes.

'_She finally sees why Andrea pisses me off,'_ I thought.

"Are you serious?" Andrea asked, "Everything falls apart, and you're in my face over skipping laundry?"

"Puts a burden on the rest of us, on me, Carol, Jewels, and Patricia and Maggie. Cooking, cleaning and caring for Beth," Lori stopped, her lips drawing into a thin straight line, "And you…you don't care about anyone but yourself."

'_HALLELUJAH!' _I inwardly cheered, _'Finally someone else has spoken the truth. Ain't just me anymore!'_

"You sit up on that RV, working on your tan with a shotgun in your lap," Lori finished.

"No, I am on watch against walkers…that is what matters, not fresh mint leaves in the lemonade."

"Is this before or after you disobey orders and shoot at fellow group members almost killin' them?" I questioned.

"That was an accident," she said, her lip curling once again.

"Ya don't know what you're doin' and ya think ya can just go and do what ya want," I said, taking a step towards her.

Lori got in between us to make sure we didn't break into fight. But as she stood there she stared down at Andrea, a scowl on her face. "We are providing stability, we are trying to create a life worth living."

"Are you kidding me?" Andrea asked.

"Look, I went after Rick and I took down two walkers," Lori started.

"After crashing Maggie's car-," Andrea cut in.

"Don't act like you're the only one who can take care of herself," Lori said.

"Ever apologize for that?" Andrea asked.

Lori took a step back. "Crashing her…you're insane."

"HALLELUJAH!" I accidently said out loud. I turned away from the two sets of eyes now starin' at me. _'I can't believe that just happened.'_

"No, I am not the insane one and that just proves that both you are," Andrea said, "And you're the one that's self-centered, the way you take it all for granted."

"My husband is out there for the hundredth time…my son was shot, don't you dare tell me I take this for granted," Lori said lowly.

"You don't get it, do you?" Andrea spat, "Your husband came back from the dead, your son too. And now you've got a baby on the way.The rest of us have piled up our losses…me, Carol, Beth…but you just keep on keeping on. We have all suffered. But you, playing how, acting like the queen bee, laying down rules for everybody else but yourself. You know what? Go ahead. Go in there and tell that little girl that everything's gonna be okay, just like it is for you. She'll get a husband, a son, baby…_boyfriend_. She just has to look on the bright side."

Lori just stared at Andrea before Andrea scoffed and walked off.

"Next time, you don't have to be so excited," Lori said quietly.

"That was an accident…it just slipped out…" I said, still embarrassed by my outburst. I had meant what I had said, but I didn't mean to actually say it.

After that Lori and I stayed in the kitchen and continued cleaning. I helped the best I could, sweeping, mopping, and dusting being the most my hand and after fever tired body could handle.

"Damn I hate this thing," I said unwrapping my hand.

"You should leave that on," Lori warned.

"It needs air," said before gently resting my unwrappy hand on the cool countertop, "That's better…uh oh." I looked out the window in front of me and saw Daryl heading towards the house.

"What?" she asked.

"I'm in trouble," I replied.

She looked out the window and saw Daryl and chuckled. "I'm having no part of this one." She turned and headed out of the kitchen to a different part of the house and I just watched in disbelief.

"Lori…Lori come back," I said seeing the look on Daryl's face, "Lori…Lori this ain't funny."

"Jewels!" Daryl said, stomping into the house.

"Stew was good," I quickly said before he could get anything else out.

"You should be restin'," he said.

"I felt much better, so I came and visited with Lori…helped with some _minor_ chores," I replied.

"I don't need ya getting' sick again," he said, runnin' his hands over his face, "I'm gonna need your help tomorrow and ya won't be any good with a fever."

"Help?" I questioned, "Help with what?"

"Last night, apparently Rick, Glenn, and Hershel brought back some kid. Name's Randall…he's from a group that's nearby and they can't get any information outta him," he replied.

"So their sendin' in my wolf to do the dirty work?" I questioned, slidin' my hand up his chest and undoing the first couple of buttons of his threadbare shirt.

He smirked. "Ain't gonna work…"

"What ain't gonna work?" I questioned slyly.

"Tryin' to get on my good side like this," he replied, "You in a lot of trouble…not restin' like the note said."

"What are ya gonna do? Spank me?" I teased.

Next thing I knew a loud smacking sound was echoing through the quiet kitchen before, he turned and headed towards the door. "By the way…your job tomorrow is just to make sure I don't kill the kid."

He walked out of the house leaving me standing there, hand on my butt, and mouth gaping. _'I can never…ever say that again.'_

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	26. He's Right

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

**I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! So…I was washing dishes after a wonderful turkey feast with my family and I was listening to my iPod and I was just jammin' out and 'Anna Sun' by Walk The Moon turned on and it reminded me of Jewels and Daryl. Soooooooo if you've heard it, just think about the lyrics and the way Jewels and Daryl are if not, you should look up the song or at least the lyrics \(^_^)/**

"Wear these," Daryl said, tossin' me a pair of his pants.

"Why should I wear your pants?" I questioned.

"One, ya need to wear pants in general and two, I ain't lettin' ya go in that barn with me when ya wearin' those tight jeans like ya do," he replied smirking.

I gave small smile and sat down on his lap, straddlin' his hips. "You afraid I'll trade ya in for a younger model if I think he's cute enough? And that with those tight jeans that you love watchin' me walk in, that he'd jump at the chance to get with me."

He rolled us over so he was on top of me, body pressed against mine. "Ain't gonna happen…"

"Aren't you the con…confidant one," I choked out as he began to kiss and bite at the skin of my neck.

"Ain't no confidence 'bout it," he whispered, "It's a fact; no other man can turn ya on like this."

I moaned and arched my back as his lips started to travel front of my bran and panty clad body. He had just hooked his thumbs in the waistband of my panties and began to pull them down when we were rudely interrupted.

"Daryl! Jewels! It's time!" Rick's voice called from not far away.

Daryl cursed heavily under his breath before getting up off me.

'_He right…' _I thought, laying there breathing heavily, _'There is no other man that can turn me on the way he does.'_

"Get dressed," he said lookin' down at me, an irritated but still lustful look in his eyes.

I just nodded and he left the tent leavin' me to get my head back in order and get dressed. Gettin' dressed, I did as Daryl said and I put on the pair of pants that he threw at me pullin' my belt snug to my waist. _'This is not the way I wanted to lose a couple of pounds,'_ I thought, thinkin' back to the days where Monica and I would sit and joke about losin' weight. I had always sat around 135-140 pounds, but getting older life itself starts to weigh ya down so I had decided I at least wanted to get to 130 just so that as I got older I would already have a head start on my diet. But now I had an involuntary diet and exercise regimen.

Stepping out of the tent Daryl looked over his shoulder at me and shook his head. "You should wear a different god damn shirt while ya at."

"Says the bulge in your pants," I said, walking past him.

"Damn woman," I heard him following, "Just don't think you should be walkin' into that barn in that tight shirt."

"Get over it, it's the only clean one I got," I said, heading to the barn where Rick and Shane were waitin'.

"So all I got to do is make sure he don't kill the kid right?" I asked Rick.

Rick gave a nod. "Tell you the truth you're the only one who can control him…so I need to make sure we get information from the kid so that we can decided whether or not he's dangerous."

"I don't need controllin'!" Daryl snapped.

I looked over at and cocked an eyebrow. "Have you ever met yourself?"

"Screw you," he said.

"Gladly," I remarked.

Rick cleared his throat.

"Sorry…" I said, turning around, "Let's get started shall we."

I opened the door and walked in to see a young kid, roughly 22 years old on the ground already lookin' like they had been put through the wringer. He looked up at me with a defeated expression on his face and gave a sigh.

"Please tell me you're here to get me outta this hell hole," he said.

"Sorry…" I said, pushing the door open further letting Daryl walk in before me.

LATER…

_PUNCH_

_PUNCH_

_PUNCH_

"I told you-," Randall said,

"You told me shit!" Daryl said before punching him again.

"I barely knew those guys…I met 'em on the road," he said.

"How many in your group?" Daryl asked. There was no reply from a now very bloody Randall and he pulled out his hunting knife.

"Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," Randall said, starting to panic before looking at me, "Come on, man."

"Tell the man what he wants to know and maybe I'll stop him, can't promise anything," I said, as I sat leaning against the barn wall.

Daryl slammed the knife tip first into floorboards in front of Randall's crotch causing him to let out a yelp. "How many?!"

"Uh 30…30. 30 guys," he spat out.

"Where?" Daryl asked.

"Uh…I don't know," he replied.

"Not good enough," I commented.

"I swear! We were never anyplace more than a night," he said.

"Scouting?" Daryl questioned, "Planning on staying local?"

"I…I don't know…they…they left me behind…" Randall said.

Daryl ripped the bandage off of Randall's injured knee and stuck the point of his knife in the healing wound. "Did you ever pick off a scab?"

"Come on, man! I'm…I'm trying to cooperate," Randall said.

"Start real slow at first…"

"No…"

"Soon or later, you've just gotta rip it off," Daryl taunted.

"Only you could make that sound sexy," I said.

"Okay, okay…they have weapons…heavy stuff, automatics," Randall confessed, "But I didn't do anything!"

"Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm," Daryl said, moving the knife a little, "You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're innocent?"

"Yes! These…these people took me in…not just guys, a whole group of 'em," Randall finally admitted, causing Daryl to stand up and look away from him, "Me and women, kids too…just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know? But…we go out, scavenge…just the men. One night, we…we found this little campsite. A man and his two daughters…teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute…"

Daryl looked over his shoulder at him and eyed him as his tone got this more thoughtful quality to it.

"Their daddy had to watch while these guys…they…and they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just…they just made him watch as his daughters…they just, just…just left him there," he finished, before noticing the look on Daryl's face, "No, but…but…but I didn't touch those girls. No, I swear I didn't!"

'_I don't know if I believe that,'_ I thought standing up and looking down at Randall as Daryl began to beat the crap out of him,_ 'Not with the look that he had on his face while he was sayin' that…'_

After Daryl was done with Randall he grabbed his crossbow and we headed over to the main camp where everyone was waiting.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 ment. They have heavy artillery and they ainly looking to make friends," he said, readjusting the crossbow back up on his shoulder, "They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna…they're gonna wish they were."

"What did you do?" Carol asked, seeing Daryl's bloodied knuckles.

Daryl looked at his hand. "Had a little chat."

She went to say something else, but I held up my hand and shook my head to stop her. I wasn't going to have her getting into it with him when his blood was already pumping the way it was.

"No one goes near this guy," Shane said.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?" Lori asked.

"We have no choice. He's a threat, we have to eliminate the threat," Rick replied.

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked in disbelief.

"It's settled," Rick said, "I'll do it today."

He walked off with Dale close behind, obviously going to try and talk him out of killin' Randall. "That my laundry?" I asked Carol, pointing to a laundry basket.

"Just needs to be hung up to dry," she replied.

"Thanks," I said, grabbing the basket and walking off towards mine and Daryl's camp with him close behind. Once back at our camp, I grabbed a couple of supplies that I had nabbed the day before and walked over to him and held them up.

"And what do you want me to do with those?" he asked, looking at the nails, rope, and hammer that I held out towards him.

"Oh, I don't know…I was thinking we could eighty-six the whole 'let Rick take care of it' deal and go all Proverb 30:17 on Randall's ass and let the ravens get him…" I said, "'The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it'."

"Umm…" he started, but stopped not really sure what to say to that.

"I went to Sunday school, so sue me…now I need you to hang a clothes line so that these clothes so I can hang up these things to dry, unless you want wet boxers and ball chafing…I don't think you want ball ch-." He snatched the supplies out of my hands and began to string the rope from one tree to another, mumbling under his breath the whole time. "Thank you…" I said, once he was done.

"Yeah…just don't go thinkin' that you're gonna have me doin' a whole bunch of chores next," he said sourly.

"Aww…but I have such a big strong man to take care of me…I have to train and domesticate him a little bit," I teased as I began to hang clothes on the line.

"You're gonna be the death of me…" I heard him say.

I looked at him through the space of the clothes. He was getting ready to go out to hunt again, probably hoping to find something bigger than squirrel. I watched his hands as he checked over his crossbow and arrows meticulously. He was a gruff man, no one would argue that point with me, but when it came to hunting her was as thorough as my college English professor Mr. Baxley. Checking for any and all imperfections that might get in the way of a successful goal are out of the way.

"Damn it…" he said snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked to see what Daryl was now looking at and saw Dale making his way over. "The whole point of me coming up here was to get away from you people."

"Gonna take more than that," Dale said.

"Carol send you?" Daryl asked, sourly.

"Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you, your new role in the group," Dale replied.

"Oh, man, I don't need my head shrunk," Daryl said, "This group's broken. I'm better off fendin' for myself and my girl."

"You act like you don't care."

"Yeah…it's 'cause I don't."

"So live or die, you don't care what happens to Randall?"

"Nope…"

"Then why not stand with me, try to save the kid's life, if it really doesn't matter one way or the other?"

"Didn't peg ya for a desperate some of a bitch."

"Your opinion makes a difference," Dale said, his argument getting more frantic.

"Man, ain't no body lookin' at me for nothin'," Dary replied, before lookin' at me with a teasing look, "'Cept that one and all the crap she wants is _domesticated_."

"Daryl…" I said.

"Carol looks to you," Dale said, earning an eye roll from Daryl, "And I am. Right now. And you obviously…you obviously have Rick's ear."

"Rick just looks to Shane…let him," Daryl said.

"You cared about what happened to Sophia. Cared what it meant to the group," Dale said, "Torturing people? That isn't you. You're a decent man. So is Rick. Shane…he's different."

"Why's that?" Daryl asked, "'Cause he killed Otis?"

Dale looked shocked by this statement. "He tell you that?"

"He told some story…how Otis covered him, saved his ass. He showed up with the dead guy's gun. Rick ain't stupid. If he didn't figure that out, it's cause he didn't wanna," Daryl replied, "It's like I said…group's broken."

Knowing he wasn't going to be convincing Daryl to a "no death" verdict, he turned to me. "And where do you stand with all this?"

"Dale…I've see a lot of truth, and I've seen a lot of lies and when he told us what his buddies did to a couple of teen girls, I couldn't tell if he was tellin' the truth when he said he didn't do anything," I said, thinkin' back to the look on Randall's face, "Somethin' just ain't right about that boy. I may have stood in that barn, but I'm stayin' out of this…"

"So you don't care either?" he asked.

I ducked under the clothesline and took a few steps towards Dale. "His buddies _raped_ two teenaged girls in front of their father and he watched. He said nothin' about tryin' to stop 'em. He just watched…so you want an answer Dale? Do you really want an answer?"

"Yes, I want an answer…this boy's life is-"

"I don't care what happens to him, because obviously he didn't care what happened to those two girls…he just _watched_," I said, cutting him off, "And you weren't in there when he was tellin' us about what happened…the look on his face…the little bastard fuckin' enjoyed it. Talkin' about those girls like they were some pieces of meat or somethin'."

"So that's it…you're going to condone him for something that he might or might not have done?" Dale asked.

"Dale…just leave," I said, turning away from him having no more patience for him or his bring peace to the masses routine.

Dale finally left and Daryl walked over to me looking down at me from the other side of the clothesline. "I'll be back for the vote tonight."

"Mmhmm," I replied, hanging up the clothes that I had in my hands.

"Don't work too hard…" he joked, before walking off into the woods.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	27. Family Meetings

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"Find anything interestin'?" I questioned, hearing heavy footsteps behind me later in the day.

"Heard me comin', did ya?" Daryl asked, walkin' past me and going over to the line where he had been hangin' up the squirrels.

"Believe it or not, your footsteps get pretty heavy when ya ain't out huntin' and trackin'…probably 'cause subconsciously ya don't give a king sized crap who hears ya," I said, pulling the now dry clothes off the line.

He gave a chuckle. "Glad to know you've paid attention to me that much."

"It's not just you," I replied, "I've listened to the way everyone walks so that when I'm in the tent I can tell who's comin' and if it's someone I don't recognize."

"Really now," he said, leanin' up against the tree, "Ya got me curious now."

"Well, since you asked so nicely," I said, sarcastically, "Shane stomps around like he weighs ten pounds more then he actually does, but it's mostly his ego going 'I am man, hear me roar', so he stomps around because he _thinks_ he's an alfa male…Glenn on the other hand is Mr. Twinkle Toes, because he's so fast on his feet he's very light on his feet the rest of the time he walks around as well."

"Ya get all that, just by the way they walk?" he asked.

"In one of my father's sober moments he told me about when he was in Vietnam and how they used their hearin' to tell the difference between animals and humans while they were out in the forests so they didn't accidentally give away their position," I said, "After he told me that I started practicin' listening to the different ways that people walk and the different ways that animals move around and soon I was able to tell the difference between my father's friends, coworkers, his…fling, and his drunk and sober walk. I also was able to put the skill into good use when my granddaddy started takin' me huntin' 'cause I could tell the difference between a buck and an elk." He just looked at me with this small smile on his face. "What?"

"You just don't know how amazin' you are, do ya?" he asked.

"I ain't nothin' special," I said, "Just put the skills that I learned to good use. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have lasted this long…" I stopped and looked him dead in the eye. "Or have met you." The smile on his face slowly disappeared and I bit my lip, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry…" I said, "I know you ain't into that mushy stuff but…"

I saw his boots come up next to mine and I looked up at him. "You know I ain't good with words…I'm better at showing you I care through actions and promisin' that nothin's gonna hurt ya," he said, "so when ya get like that, sayin' stuff like that…it catches me off guard and I ain't got no idea what to say."

I gave a small smile at his honesty. "Daryl…you can say the first thing that comes to mind, or for now…ya ain't go to say nothin' at all…I know you care. It's just, sometimes I express that I care more with words than actions, and I want you to be aware of that."

"You express that ya care in actions just fine," he joked and I gave him and slight shove.

"Looks like we should head up to the house," I said, noticing it was getting dark.

"Looks like it…" he agreed.

HOUSE

"Let's gather up," Rick said, ushering everyone into the house.

"Oh, but daaaaaaaaaad I hate family meetings," I joked, walking into the house.

Once everyone was gathered in the living room it was quiet until Glenn spoke up.

"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?"

"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.

"How about majority rules?" Lori suggested.

"Well, let's…let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options," Rick said, trying to get everyone to not get ahead of themselves.

"Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward," Shane said.

"Killing him, right?" Dale asked, disgusted, "I mean, why even bother to even take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know," Rick said.

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group…maybe just me and Glenn," Dale said, confidently.

Glenn was silent for a minute and then felt Dale's disbelieving gaze on him. "Look, I…I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this…"

"They've got you scared," Dale said.

"He's not one of us. And we've…we've lost too many people already," Glenn argued.

"How about you?" he asked, looking at Maggie, "Do you agree with this?"

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" she suggested with a small shrug.

"Just another mouth to feed," Daryl said, shaking his head.

"And I can't hunt for probably another two weeks," I piped in.

"It may be a lean winter," Hershel said.

"We could ration better," Lori suggested.

"Well, he could be an asset," Dale said, "Give him a chance to prove himself. Put him to work?"

"We're not letting him walk around," Shane said.

"For once, I agree with Shane," I said, "We can't have the little creep walk around. I know how to protect myself, but the thought of him walking around still bothers me."

"We could put an escort on him," Maggie said.

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" Shane asked, in a sarcastic tone.

"I will," Dale said bluntly.

"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick said.

"He's right," Lori said, "I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor," Andrea commented.

I thought back to when I would sit and watch old westerns with my granddaddy. Sentence him to hard labor? Why not? This was the Wild West now. Every body fightin' to survive everyday, livin' in small groups with a leader (a sheriff at that), right down to the women who take care of daily chores, and those men and women who go hunt to find food. So why not sentence him to hard labor, we had no one to tell us we couldn't.

"Look, say we let him join us, right? Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off. Brings back his 30 men," Shane said, darkening the mood once again.

"So the anser is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never attempt?" Dale asked, "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."

"Oh my god," Shane said, rolling his eyes.

"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned?" Hershel asked, trying to find a different solution.

"You barely came back last time," Lori said with wide eyes, "There are walkers. You could break down. Y…you could get lost."

"Or get ambushed," Daryl added.

"They're right," Glenn agreed, "We should not put our own people at risk."

"If you go through with it, how would you do it?" Patricia asked, asking the question we were all probably wondering, myself included, "Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right?" Shane said, "Just snap his neck."

"I thought about that," Rick replied, "Shooting him might be more humane."

And what about the body? Do we bury him?" T-Dog asked.

"We'd have to," I said, "If we burned him, the scent might attract the walkers, and if we just threw him out in the woods it would be the same thing."

"Hold on, hold on!" Dale yelled, "You're talking about this like it's already decided."

"You've been talking all day, goin' around in circles," Daryl said, getting annoyed, "You just want to go around in circles again?"

"This is a young man's life, and it is worth more than a five-minute conversation! Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him?" He turned to Rick who had a look of confusion on his face. "You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

"We all know what needs to be done," Shane stated.

"No, Dale is right," Rick said, "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility-."

"So what's the other solution?" Andrea asked, cutting him off.

"Let Rick finish," Lori growled, still irritated at her for the incident with Beth.

"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet," Andrea said ignoring her.

Rick sighed. "I wish we could."

"So let's work on it!" Dale said, throwing up his hands.

"We are…" Rick said, trying to calm him down.

"Stop it. Just stop it," Carol interrupted, "I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide…either of you, both of you…but leave me out."

"Not speaking out killing him yourself…there's no difference," Dale snapped, before looking straight at me, "Same goes for you."

I took a step forward. "You really didn't hear a word that I said earlier did ya? That kid watched two teenaged girls get raped and didn't do a damn thing to stop it, may have even joined in, or just plain got off on it…yet you…you want to let him walk around all free on the farm. I don't give one flyin' fuck what happens to him, as long as he ain't nowhere near me, or one of my friends."

"All right, that's enough," Rick said, and I took a step back, "Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

"You once said that we don't kill the living," Dale said, as calmly as he could.

"Well that was before the living tried to kill us," Rick retorted.

"But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were…the world that we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's…harsh. It's…its survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't…and I don't believe that any of you do. I can't…please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?" he begged.

"He's right," Andrea agreed, giving in, "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick asked.

"Do what you want," I said, causing Rick to look over his shoulder at me, "Just know I ain't stayin' on this farm if that kid is." At that I left the house, complete silence behind me. I really didn't care what they did with Randall as long as he was very _very_ far away from me. Guys like that, guys that just sit by and let stuff like that happen, ain't worth shit and just watchin'…they're just as guilty as the rest of 'em.

I walked to my campsite and grabbed a bucket putting it under the squirrels before grabbing my hunting knife and carefully opening the bellies of the squirrels letting the blood drain from their small bodies into the bucket.

'_Hard to gut somethin' this small with a bum hand, but this gives me somethin' to do,'_ I thought, watching the blood pool.

For most of the next couple of hours I slowly dissected the squirrels. Then I heard a scream; I ran to the tent and grabbed the hand gun that was in the corner of it and I ran towards the screaming. Getting closer I recognized the voice.

"Dale!" I yelled.

"Help!" he screamed.

In the distance I could see the others running towards the same area I was. Daryl got there first, tackling the walker that was on top of Dale before stabbing it in the head.

"Who is it?" Rick asked, getting closer, "Oh, my god. Oh, god."

I finally got close enough to see how bad it was and looking at Dale his abdomen was completely torn open like that of a gutted deer. "Oh god," I said.

"All right, just listen to my voice. Listen to me, all right?" Rick said, trying to keep Dale with us, "Just listen to me. Okay, hold on now. Get Hershel! He needs blood. We gotta operate now."

Hershel finally got out to us, but there was no way Dale would make it to the house, it was too late.

"Oh, god. He's suffering. Do something!" Andrea cried.

Rick raised his gun and pointed it at Dale and stood there for a minute not able to work up the courage to shoot a stiff living friend in the head. So, Daryl took the gun from Rick and kneeled down next to Dale and put the gun to his head.

I turned my head away not wanting to watch what was about to happen.

"Sorry, brother," I heard Daryl say, before a gunshot rang throughout the field.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	28. Movin' Day

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

I didn't sleep at all that night. I just sat in the tent, knees pulled up to my chest, thinking about how I had been so rude to Dale the last time I had talked to him. How I wished that I could take back being so rude with the way I spoke to him I was just angry about the situation with Randall and he wasn't listening and…

There were so many 'and's and so many things that could have been different. But it was too late for all of that.

Packing up our stuff the next morning to get it up to the house the next morning, it was silent. Daryl and I didn't really say anything at all, what was there to be said? That old man was a friend and there was no other way to look at it.

As I finished putting the tent in its bag, Daryl came over and grabbed my chin. "Ya look like crap."

"That's just what all girls want to hear, Daryl…" I said quietly.

"Ya slept just about as well as I did too," he said removing his hand, allowing me to get back to what I was doing, "Kept wakin' up last night to see ya just sittin' there starin' off into space."

"I was rude to him…I yelled at him…I…I know I was just speaking my mind and arguing _my_ point about the Randall situation…but the last conversation that I had with him wasn't sitting around the campfire for a fish fry, I was yellin' at him," I said, "I feel awful 'bout that…"

He took the tent from my hands and looked at me. "Ain't nothin' you got to feel guilty about…we were all upset with him, goin' 'round in circles 'bout what to do with the kid."

"It must have harder for you to shoot him…" I whispered.

He kissed my forehead. "I did what had to be done."

_BEEP BEEP_

He let go of me and we looked to see T-Dog with Otis's old blue truck. "Thought you guys could use some help getting' this stuff to the house…get it there in one trip."

"Thanks, T," I said.

We loaded everything into the back and I hopped in the bed of the truck on the way to the farm house, Daryl following behind on the motorcycle. T-Dog stopped at the other campsite so that we could start loading the truck the rest of the way with everyone's stuff before moving it to the house.

"I think we should go out, find any weak spots in the fences and patch 'em up," Shane said.

"Gee, look at that, He-Man does have some good ideas up in that thick skull," I commented.

"I just don't think we should sit around, waitin' for someone else to get attacked," he snapped.

"Wait, nevermind…still the same broken record," I retorted, before he started to stomp off, "Ya know I never said it was a bad idea." He stopped and looked at me, a scowl plastered on his face. "I just don't like you, don't like the way you think you gotta turn up the testosterone to _try_ and make everyone see that you should lead us. Which ya shouldn't, all ya want to do is live by the bullet instead of tryin' to find some peace. Show's what kind of candied ass bastard you are."

He took a few steps towards me only to get a crossbow in his face. "Back the fuck off, man," Daryl growled.

"Fine," Shane said, "Just make sure she watches her goddamn mouth from now on…I'll see you later to go fix the fences." He walked away and Daryl lowered his crossbow.

"Are ya nuts?" he asked.

"Yup," I said, "Dating a crazy redneck…gotta be nuts to do that." I tried to give him a playful punch to the gut but he caught my wrist.

"I know you're tryin' to lighten the mood for yourself right now, but messin' with that guy ain't the way to do it. He ain't right in the head," he said, quietly.

"I know…I'm sorry…" I apologized.

"It's good…it's good," he said, letting me go and patting my head, "Daryl's funeral should be soon…should get ready for that."

"I hate funerals…"

FUNERAL

Shane, Andrea, T-Dog, and Daryl had gone out not long after that but had come back in time for a noon-ish burial.

"Dale could…could get under your skin," Rick started, being the only one really being able to find words at that moment, seemed like everyone tried, but they soon forgot everything they wanted to say to the old man, "He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look that he had." He stopped and gave a small chuckle. "We've all see it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us…the truth…who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honor him is to unbreak is. Set aside our differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives…our safety…our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him worng. From now on…we're gonna do it his way. That is how we honor Dale."

LATER

"Hey, Lori…I got that," I said, grabbing the folding chairs from her as she took them out of the back of the truck.

"We're quite a pair ain't we?" she said.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"I'm pregnant and you got your bum hand and yet still…we try and do things more than what others want us to do," she replied.

I chuckled. "Well…guess its force of habit. In a group like this ya can't just sit around twiddlin' your thumbs waitin' for someone else to the work." I leaned against the truck and looked at Rick who was talking to Hershel and then to Daryl who was helping move some heavier containers into the house. "'Specially those two…one's got a hero complex, the other does what he want, when he wants."

"They do what they need to do to take care of us…and we do what we need to do to take care of them, even if it just about kills us," she said.

"Like a few nights ago?" I asked.

She left out a defeated breath. "Like a few nights ago…"

I took the chairs inside and set them in the corner of the room.

"Our shit's over there," Daryl said, "Mind settin' it up."

"Patricia said there ain't no cussin' in the house," I said, "Watch your mouth."

"Be a cold day in hell when that happens," he said, before leaving the house.

I began trying to figure configure our little sleeping area without taking up to much room or move too much stuff when I saw Maggie out of the corner of my eye.

"You can put your stuff upstairs in my room," she said, looking into the dining room.

From where I was crouched down I could just make out Glenn's ball cap and could see in moving side to side…she had just made him uncomfortable.

"With your dad in the house? I just…I'm gonna put my stuff over there," Glenn replied, his ball cap disappearing from view.

I stood up and went over near Maggie and leaned against the door frame. "He'll come 'round at some point. Just nervous…your dad…I can tell he's a tough man, even in his weakest moments he's still a tough man, and Glenn sees that too…he just doesn't want to end up with a shotgun in his face."

She nodded. "I know, don't mean it don't hurt all the same."

"I know it don't…Glenn's a shy kid and he's got a tough firecracker of country girl to pull him outta that shell that he's stuck in," I said.

"Bet you and Daryl don't have that problem," she said, with a chuckle.

"Ummm…no not really…cause this firecracker of a country girl roped her a crazy redneck," I said.

"Talkin' 'bout me again?" Daryl asked, popping out of nowhere.

"Shit! Daryl," I said, jumping.

"Would've heard me comin' if you hadn't been day dreamin' 'bout me," he snickered.

"I ain't day dreamin'," I said, "…..Nice ass."

"Nice tits," he said, before leaving the house again.

"You two always do that?" Maggie asked.

"No…that just happens, 'specially when you got a man like that one," I said my mind starting to travel, "Okay, now I'm startin' to day dream, back to work."

LATER

"I'm so glad that's over," I said, walking out of the house. Everyone had just about finished with their share of getting everything in the house, and I had just finished up, so I had gone to find out what Daryl and Rick's plan was for Randall. I also had to give Daryl something before he left, something that I had found while setting everything up.

"Only got so many arrows," I heard T-Dog say as he handed Daryl a gun.

"Is that Dale's gun?" Daryl asked, taking the gun and checking the chamber.

"Yeah," T-Dog replied.

"I think I can help with the arrow problem," I said, holding up one of my quivers which was now full of handmade arrows, "They're a little longer than the ones that you normally use, but I'm sure they'll due." I saw the tips of his ears turn pink and I bit my lip to hold back a smile. "Were ya gonna tell me about this?"

"Later…when ya were better," he replied, "Ain't worth tellin' ya if it would just work ya up into wantin' to get out there to hunt."

"I'll try and restrain myself," I said, before looking at T-Dog, "You goin' with 'em?"

"Nope, staying here and keeping an eye on you ladies," he replied.

"Thanks, man," I said.

"Hey, ready?" Rick asked Daryl, coming out of the house.

"Yeah," he replied.

"I'll get the package," T-Dog said, running off to the barn.

"Take some," I said, holding out the quiver to Daryl.

"Fine," he said, taking a couple of arrows, "Ain't no arguing with ya."

"Nope, I'd sit on the hood of the truck until you took some," I joked.

"Wouldn't doubt it," he said, smirking.

Suddenly T-Dog came running back. "Randall's missing."

"Missing?" Lori asked, "How?"

"How the hell'd he get out of there?" I asked.

"How long's he been gone?" Hershel questioned as everyone now started making their way to the barn to check things out for themselves.

"The cuffs are still hooked," Rick said after inspecting the barn for himself, "He must've slipped 'em."

"Is that even possible?" Andrea asked.

"Yes…" I said, earning a questioning look from Daryl.

"I dated a cop…just leave it there," I said, shifting uncomfortably. Waking up handcuffed to my bedpost and my former boyfriend not in the room, was not one of my finer moments. The fact that I panicked, yet managed to get myself out of the cuffs actually was.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose," Rick replied.

"The door was secured from the outside," Hershel said.

"Rick! Rick!" Shane yelled running over, blood running from his nose and mouth.

"What happened?" Lori asked.

"He's armed! He's got my gun!" he said.

"Are you okay?" Carl asked.

"I'm fine," Shane replied, "Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

"All right, Hershel, T-Dog, get everybody back in the house," Rick said, "Glenn, Daryl, come with us."

Daryl came over and kissed the side of my head. "Keep your hand gun close, but stay in that house 'til I get back."

"Of course," I said, "Come back safely."

"Ya should know nothin' can kill me," he joked, walking off with the others.

'_God, I hope so,"_ I thought.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	29. Let Me Hear Some Sass

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Everybody got inside to wait for the guys to return. Me…I was a being a little more productive. From my sad days of dating a cop (okay, sad but informative), I learned a few things about if you're possibly in danger of someone killing you. So, first thing I did once everyone was in the house was close the front door, push the hall table against it, and slide the vase to the edge of the table so that if anyone pushed on that door it would hit the table causing the vase to fall to the floor. Then I sat in a chair facing the door, handgun in my lap, bow and quivers at my side. If anyone or anything came through that door that wasn't one of our guys, it was going down.

"You gonna blink?" T-Dog asked after a while.

"That will get you killed," I replied, still staring at the door.

"I'm going after them," Andrea said standing up.

"Don't," Lori said in her strict motherly tone, "They could be anywhere, and if Randall comes back, we're gonna need you here."

As if on cue the door was pushed open and seeing the familiar crossbow as the door started to get pushed opened I jumped forward to catch the vase that was now falling to the floor.

_THUD_

"Woman, what the hell are ya doin' on the floor?" Daryl asked.

"Caught it!" I said, holding the vase up in victory.

"I don't wanna know," he said, before walking into the living room, "Rick and Shane ain't back?"

"No," Lori replied.

"We heard a shot," Daryl said.

"Maybe they found Randall," Lori suggested.

"We found him," he said, shooting down that idea.

"He back in the shed?" she asked.

"He's a walker," he replied.

"Did you find the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked, slightly startled.

"No, the weird thing is…he wasn't bit at all," Glenn replied.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, "If he ain't bit then what the hell killed him."

"His neck was broke," Daryl replied.

"So he fought back," Patricia said.

Daryl shook his head. "The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other, and Shane ain't no tracker."

"He couldn't track his way out of a barrel," I commented, only to get a slight chuckle out of Maggie and a scowl from Andrea.

"Shane didn't come up behind him…they were together," he finished.

"Dale is rollin' over in his grave…what he said about Shane, every last thing…was true," I said, looking around the room.

It was silent in the room until finally Lori walked over to Daryl. "Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?"

"You got it," Daryl agreed.

"Thank you," she said, relieved.

Daryl looked down at me with an amused look. "That ok with you?"

"Your balls ain't in my purse," I said, "Even if I said it ain't ya'd do what ya want…as usual."

He gave my foot and small tap with his. "Damn straight." He went to the door and opened it but stopped and looked back at me.

Filling the quiet night air was a loud growling. It was distant, but it was loud. I jumped up and followed Daryl outside along with Glenn and Andrea. "That…ain't good," I said, seeing a _very_ large herd of walkers off in the distance.

Soon the others joined us outside and saw what we saw and slight panic started to set in, but everyone started to get ready for what was upon us.

"Go! Patricia, kill the lights," Hershel said in a hushed tone.

"I'll get the guns," Andrea said.

'_Of course you will,'_ I thought, going in the house myself and getting my quivers and putting them on. Bum hand or not, if I needed to I would do what I needed to, to protect the people that I care about.

"Ya should rethink that," I heard from behind me, as I picked up my bow and inspected the wood and string.

"I'll use my gun unless absolutely necessary," I said, ghosting that I had an arrow in my hand and pulling back the string. A slight twinge of pain shot through my hand, but I tried to fight through it without showing to much pain. "It's not too bad…"

"If we have to leave the farm…I want ya to stay with Maggie and Glenn," he said, catching me off guard.

"What?" I questioned, looking at him.

"I'll have to stay behind and make sure everyone gets off the farm and hold back the walkers," he replied, "I want ya to go with Maggie and Glenn, I'll come find ya as soon as I can."

"I can't just leave ya behind to…" I trailed off, my mind immeadiatly thinking the worst possible things.

"I ain't gonna die," he said, "I promised to protect ya…remember?"

I shook my head. I had known that saying on the farm wasn't going to last forever and the chance of another herd was very possible. But I had grown very fond of being on the farm, waking up every morning and looking across the fields, the sun peaking ever so slightly over the clouds. So the thought of having to say goodbye to this place was not a happy thought, but adding on top of that Daryl saying that he was going to stay behind, wasn't making it any better. "I don't like it."

He grabbed my arms and looked me dead in the eyes. "I will come and find ya…I promise."

I nodded.

"No sass? Ya got to say somethin', if ya don't then I'll go out there knowin' you're pissed at me," he said, with a smirk.

"If ya get yaself killed I'll bring ya back myself, kill ya again, and hack ya into little pieces," I said.

He chuckled. "That's better."

I threw my pack on my back and we walked back onto the front porch.

"Maybe they're just passing, the herd on the highway," Glenn said, "Should we just go inside?"

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about," Daryl commented, "A heard that size would rip the house down."

"Carl's gone," Lori said, frantically running down the stairs.

"What?" he asked.

"He…he was upstairs…I can't find him," she replied.

"Maybe he's hiding," Glenn suggested.

"He's supposed to be upstairs, I'm not leaving without my boy…." She said.

"We're not," Carol assured her, "We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him." Her and Lori went back inside to search for Carl, while guns and ammo started to get passed around.

Maggie picked up a shotgun and Glenn gave her a worried look. "Maggie…"

"You grow up country, you pick up a thing or two," she said.

"Ain't that the truth," I said, picking up a shotgun only to have it taken away by Daryl.

"Would someone keep her ass away from the damn shotguns?" he asked, "Anyway, I got the general number…it's no use."

"You can go if you want," Hershel said, with a serious expression.

"You gonna take 'em all on?" Daryl asked, "We have guns. We have cars."

"Kill as many as we can, and we'll use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm," Andrea said.

"Are you serious?" Daryl asked.

"That would use up all the ammo that we have left," I said.

"This is my farm," Hershel interrupted, "I'll die here."

Daryl sighed. "All right. It's as good a night as any." He jumped over the porch railing and went to get ready to head off into 'battle', but he turned and came back by the railing and used a finger to usher me over.

I walked over to the railing and he grabbed my arm pulling my down and putting his lips next to my ear and whispering in it. When he pulled away I was left in complete shock as I watched him walk away.

_**Jewels: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand CLIFFHANGER muhahahahahaha. Until the next chapter *waves***_


	30. I Love You

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"Daryl…Daryl come back here!" I said, trying to run off the porch after him, but Glenn grabbed my arm.

"Jewels…ya can't go after him," he said.

"Let me go, Glenn," I said, trying to shake him off, only to have him pull me back again.

"I told Daryl that I would keep you close to me and Maggie," he said, "He'd kill me if I didn't."

I looked at him. His eyes were full of a pleading look and I gave in with a slight nod before giving on last look at Daryl. Soon some of us were going after the walkers, others staying at the house. I was in the car with Maggie and Glenn.

"Keep it steady!" Glenn yelled, as me and him leaned out the windows shooting at walkers while Maggie drove.

"I'm trying!" she yelled back.

"Damn it," Glenn said, missing a walker.

"Remember Glenn, don't think to hard…aim and shoot," I said, managing to take down walkers one by one with the hand gun.

Soon we were running low on ammo in the car and we noticed that the other vehicles started to leave the farm and we got back in the car and rolled up the windows.

"Where the hell are they going?" Maggie asked, "Should I follow them?"

"I'd say yes, swing it around, swing it around here," Glenn said, trying to direct her, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" A group of walkers began to surround the car, hands pounding on the windows.

"Oh my god, I can't get through," Maggie said.

"Gas it," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"Head out," Glenn said.

"What?" she asked again, starting to panic.

"Get off the farm now," he said.

"Don't say that," she said, the fact that the her home, the only one that she's ever known was now lost to the walkers.

"Maggie, it's lost!" Glenn and I said.

"The other…we can't leave them," she said.

"Get off the farm now!" we yelled and she hit the gas and she got through the walkers and off the farm.

We headed down the road, daylight now starting to break in the distance. "Oh my god. Oh my god," Maggie said, getting ready to break down, her knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel.

"All right, let's just…let's just circle back to the highway," Glenn said as calmly as possible.

"Did you see my dad? Did…did he make it? Did you see?" she asked.

"I couldn't see anything," he replied honestly.

"And Beth…I lost Beth. We've gotta go back there…"

"We can't go back, okay? There's nothing to go back to."

"But Beth…"

"I…I…I think she was with Lori."

"Did they make it?"

"I don't know…"

"Patricia? Jimmy? What if they didn't make it? What if nobody made it?" she said, causing my heart to sink.

"They made it, okay? They had to. All right, let's just circle around to the highway where we left supplies for Sophia," he said.

Panic set in on Maggie's face again. "No, the herd came from that direction."

"Just stop. Stop the car. Stop the car. Let me drive," Glenn said.

"No…" I said, "Let me drive…you take care of her…"

He nodded and we switched seats, me taking the driver's and him and Maggie sitting in the back. It was better that way anyway. Glenn could hold Maggie and just let her cry into his chest, and me…well I could just sit up front by myself, eyes glued to the road. I hadn't see Daryl get off the farm, I didn't know if he was alright…speeding past the groups of walkers on the way back to the highway all I could think about was what he had whispered to me before he had gone to go fight off the walkers.

"_Whatever happens, I want ya to know that I ain't never cared for nothin' the way I care about ya…no matter what happened babe, I love ya…I just want ya to know that and I want ya to remember that."_

I had been so shocked I hadn't been able to reply to him. The fact that I hadn't seen him leave the farm worried me, because what if I never got a chance to reply to him? I had only known the man for a couple of months now, but it was so clear that I had no idea what I would do without the man. I loved him…I loved him so much.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of a vehicle and as the sound got closer, my heart just about did a backflip. Looking in the rearview mirror I saw Daryl. _'Oh my god…he's alive.'_

Soon we were joined by the blue truck driven by T-Dog and we made our way back to the highway, Daryl now in the lead. Once at the highway we found Hershel, Carl, and Rick were waiting and I heard Maggie let out a sob of joy when she saw her father. I parked the car and jumped out of the car and started run over to Daryl.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked him.

"Well, those guys's tail lights were speedin' down the road so I figure oomph-," he got cut off by me running up and tightly wrapping my arms around him, "I figured that it had to be this one drivin'."

"I'll let that one slide," I said, before standing on my tiptoes and putting my lips next to his ear so only he could hear what I had to say next, "I love you, too."

I heard a small chuckle as he pulled me tighter towards him. "Where's the rest of us?" I knew he was talking to Rick so I just stayed there, head buried in his chest.

"We're the only one who made it so far," Rick replied.

"Shane?" Lori asked.

"Andrea?" Glenn asked.

"She saved me," Carol said, "Then I lost her."

"We saw her go down," T-Dog said, confirming that Andrea had gone down due to the walkers.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

"They got her, too," Beth replied, tears welling up in her eyes, "Too her right in front of me. I was…I was holdin' onto her, daddy. She just…what about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV," Rick replied, "It got overrun."

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"There were walkers everywhere…" Lori replied.

"Did you see her?" Carol asked again.

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said, trying to pull from my grasp.

"Like hell you are!" I snapped, "You don't know how many walkers are left back there let alone goin' back for…" I stopped myself and recomposed myself. "You ain't goin' back there."

"We can't just leave her," Daryl said.

"We don't even know if she's there," Lori said.

"She isn't there," Rick said, "She isn't…she's somewhere else or she's dead…there's no way to find her."

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked.

"We gotta keep moving," Rick replied, "There have been walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east," T-Dog said.

"Stay off the main roads," Daryl said, going to the motorcycle, "The bigger the road, the more walkers."

I went and grabbed my pack from the car before I headed over towards Daryl and looked at Carol. "You can right with Maggie and Glenn," I said, taking my place behind him. Soon we were all back on the road again, but by the late afternoon we ended up having to pull over.

"You out?" Daryl asked Rick.

"Running on fumes," he replied.

"We can't stay here," Maggie said.

"We can't all fit in one car," Carol said.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick saod.

"Spend the night here?" she asked.

"I'm freezing," Carl said.

"We'll build a fire, yeah?" Lori questioned.

"You go out looking for firewood, stay close…only got so many arrows," Daryl said, "How you doing on ammo?"

"Not enough," Rick replied, with a shake of his head.

"Well we can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said.

"Watch your mouth," Hershel snapped, "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning, we'll find some gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on," Rick said.

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie suggested.

"No, we stay together," Rick stated, "God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn said.

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure…I really wasn't…but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place," he said, trying to give some sort of pep talk.

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's walkers everywhere," Glenn said, "They're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hold up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together build a life for each other. I know it's out there, we just have to find it," Rick said.

"We thought that about the farm too…we fooled ourselves into thinking that we could make some type of new life there," I said, "Even if we find a new place to "live", how long before another herd comes along and ruins it for us?"

"We won't make that mistake again," Hershel said.

"We''ll make camp tonight over there," Rick said, pointing to an area near a small man made waterfall, "Get back on the road at the break of day."

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked, looking at Daryl.

"What if walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?" Beth questioned.

Daryl's expression suddenly darkened as he turned to look at Rick. "You know I found Randall, right? He had turned, be he wasn't bit."

"How's that possible?" Beth asked.

"Rick, what the hell happened?" Lori asked.

"Shane killed Randall," Daryll replied for him, "Just like he always wanted to."

"And then the herd got him…" Lori said.

Rick was silent as he just stared off into space. "We're all infected," he finally said.

"What?" Daryl asked.

"At the CDC, Jenner told me…whatever it is, we all carry it…" he said.

"And you never said anything?" Carol questioned.

"Would it have made a difference?" he asked.

"You knew this whole time?" Glenn asked.

"How could I have known for sure? You saw how crazt that mo…"

"That's not your call," Glenn said cutting him off, "Okay, when I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told, for the good of everyone."

"Well, I thought it best that people didn't know," he said before walking off with Lori following him.

"What the hell is that shit?" I asked looking at Daryl.

"I don't know," he replied, "For now let's not think on it and just get camp set up…that's our first priority."

"Yeah…" I said, looking at Rick who was now quietly bickering with Lori. How the hell could he keep something like that from us? Stuff like that we all need to know about…

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	31. Noodlin'

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Letting the events of the day sink in, everybody got started on setting up a camp for the night. Some collected fire wood, some walked the perimeter to make sure that there were no walkers in the immediate area, and others found other ways to contribute. Like me…

I waded out into the cold river. I had seen some fish splashing around, and where there's fish, there's dinner. So, sharpened stick in hand I stood in the river and waited for an unsuspecting fish to swim by and…

_SPLASH_

'_Sometimes it's worth doin' things the old fashioned way,'_ I thought tying the end of the rope that was around my waist. It wasn't long before I had enough fish to feed all of us, but then something caught my attention. The tail of a large catfish disappeared into a den and I smile crept on to my face. "I promised granddaddy that I would never go noodlin' again," I said, looking at the den before looking at my bandaged up hand, "Screw it…" I took off the bandage and threw it over to the bank before wading over to the branches where the den was located and going underwater.

The water was cold and it along with the dirt that was being pushed up from the bottom stung my eyes but I made my way to the den and stuck my arm in and felt around. I came up for a breath. "That's a big catfish," I said having felt the mouth of the fish. I then dove back down and stuck my hand back in the den, moving it around, trying to entice the fish until I felt it clamp its mouth around my hand. _'Don't twist ya mother fucker,'_ I thought fighting the fish as I started to pull it from the den.

I broke the surface of the water fighting with the fish that was attached to my arm. Once I managed to get my footing under me I quickly grabbed my hunting knife from my side and stabbed it. It's fighting slowing and I slowly carried the heavy fish along with the other fish to the camp where I dropped the fish in front of Daryl.

"The hell?" he asked, looking up and seeing me completely soaked.

"That is at least 25 pounds," I said, excitedly pointing at the large catfish, "Oh and these…." I dropped the five trout that I had caught as well next to him. "I ain't felt this great about fishin' since I was a teen, man…I promised my granddaddy that I would never go noodlin' again, but I did."

"You caught this by hand?" he asked, now looking at my unbandaged hand.

"You bet I did…" I said, proudly, "Caught them trout with a stick too. Damn, I'm could…" I went to my pack and pulled out the extra clothes that I had. "I'll be back."

DARYL'S POV

I watched Jewels disappear behind some trees to change out of her sopping wet clothes. "Damn girl's hand ain't never gonna heal at this rate."

I looked at her catch. I had to admit, it was impressive; so even though she was out of her mind (once again) and did something she probably shouldn't with that bum hand, she caught us food that if rationed out properly could last awhile.

I reached over and pulled the knife out of the large catfish, and looked at it. It was funny, the first time I had me Jewels she had tried to kill me with that knife, but I had never taken a close look at it before. It was obviously a one of a kind knife, the handle was black with a snake coiled around it, the scales detailed out to make a better grip. Different shades of green made up the body of the snake leading up to the head where two bright red eyes sat, the mouth of the snake open, fangs showin' like it was ready to take a bite outta someone. Then from the mouth was the blade of the knife, serrated and perfect for huntin' and guttin' animals.

"Little mischief maker…" I mumbled, reading the engraving on the blade out loud.

"Talkin' 'bout me?" Jewels asked.

I looked over my shoulder to see her in dry clothes, hair pulled back into a high ponytail and one of my long sleeved shirts for extra warmth. "Just lookin' at the knife…little mischief maker."

JEWELS' POV

A small smile spread across my face as he read the inscription on the side of the knife. "My grandmother had that made for me," I said, thinking back to when I got the hunting knife, "She said that I needed my own huntin' knife, not have to use my granddaddy's old one. She was real religious and said I was as mischevious as the snake in the forbidden garden. She said I might try and get someone to eat the forbidden fruit just for a laugh…but that's what made me special, I was her little mischief maker."

He looked at the knife one more time before handing it back to me. "It suits you."

"Thanks," I said, taking the knife and putting it back at my waist.

"The hell is that?" T-Dog asked walking into the camp area and seeing the catfish.

I smiled proudly. "Dinner."

LATER

_SIZZLE_

'_I have never been so happy to see a catfish fillet in my life,'_ I thought, flipping over the fillet. I had spent most of the day drying out the fish and turnin' it into jerky. Not the most nutritious and filling thing that people could ask for, but it was the one way that we could preserve all the fish for now. And now that it was getting dark out it was time for dinner.

"So tell me again how you caught this catfish," Glenn said, as I began to hand out the fillets.

"Noodlin'," I replied, "Stuck my hand right in the catfish den, the fish latched onto my arm, and I wrestled the damn thing right out of the water…"

"I suppose you used your good hand and not your bad one?" Hershel questioned, just barely looking up from his food.

"Ummmm…" I started looking at my still unbandaged hand, "I plead the 5th…"

"Thought as much," he said.

"My hand doesn't hurt…" I said, "So I guess it's getting…better…oh don't look at me like that…" Hershel was eyeing me with that look my granddaddy always gave me that I did something that I wasn't supposed to. I went and sat in front of Daryl, leaning back against him as he messed with the fire.

"Cold?" he questioned, wrapping his arms around me.

"A bit…but I'm a little better now," I replied.

"Good," he said, kissing the side of my head.

"We're not safe with him…" Carol whispered. For most of the afternoon she had been keeping a close eye on Rick, she was irritated at him for keeping what he did from us. "Keeping something like that from us. Why do you need him? He's just gonna pull you down."

I raised an eyebrow looking at Carol. _'Oh she is not tryin' to make a move on my man.'_

"No…Rick's done all right by me," Daryl said, ignoring it.

"You're his henchman and I'm a burden," she said, "You deserve better."

Daryl shifted and looked at her. "What do you want?"

"A man of honor," she replied.

"Get a dog," I replied, sourly earning a pinch on the side from him, "Ow!"

"Rick has honor," he said.

"I think we should take our chances," Maggie said, looking up from her food.

Hershel put down his fork. "Don't be foolish. There's barely any food, no fuel, no ammo."

Suddenly the branches rustled and everyone was on alert.

"What was that?" Maggie asked.

I slid away from Daryl and he stood up, taking his crossbow off his shoulder. "Could be anything…could be a raccoon, could be a possum…walker."

"We need to leave," Carol said, "I mean what are we waiting for?"

"Which way?" Glenn asked, gripping his gun closer to his chest.

"It came from over there," Maggie replied.

"Back from where we came…" Glenn said.

"Yeah…" Maggie said.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark…we don't have the vehicles, no one's traveling on foot," Rick said, trying to keep everyone from panicking.

"Don't panic," Hershel said.

"I'm not…I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move, now," Maggie insisted.

"No one is going anywhere," Rick said.

"Do something!" Carol said.

"I am doing something! I'm keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along, no matter what. I didn't ask for this. I killed my best friend for you people, for Christ's sake!" he snapped causing us all to go quiet and just stare at him, "You saw what he was like, how he pushed me, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back. He gave me no choice. He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are clean. Maybe you people are better off without me. Go ahead. I say there's a place for us, but maybe…maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe…maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you…why don't you go and find out yourself? Send me a postcard. Go on, there's the door. You can do better? Let's see how far you get. No takers? Fine. But get one thing straight…you're staying…this isn't a democracy anymore."

"Sounds more like a Rick-ocracy to me," I mumbled.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	32. Things Would Have Been Different

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

We had been on the road for a few months now, seemingly running around in complete circles looking for places to hunker down even if it was for a couple of house. For the first time in a few days we had found a large house that we were able to clear of walkers and just settle into and rest.

Lori, now being six months pregnant and seemingly getting bigger by the day, was happy to have the rest, and the rest of us were happy for her.

"Ya need anythin' else?" I asked, propping her feet up on my folded blanket.

"No…you're doing more than enough," she said, "I really don't need your blanket…you're gonna need it tonight."

"Your ankles are swollen, ya need to get your feet up," I argued, "Plus, I uh…have a pretty good blanket if I get to cold." I looked over my shoulder at Daryl who was fast asleep. Being constantly on the move we were all getting worn out, some more than others. Tonight, Daryl's sleepiness had just caught up to him as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Lori chuckled. "I'm sure…thank you."

I smiled looking back at her. "No problem, good night."

"Night."

I went and laid down next to Daryl and instinctively he rolled over and put his arm around me. It was this new thing that he had started doing within the last couple of months or so; he could be sound asleep and I would lay down next to him and he would roll over and put his arm around me. I didn't mind much though, he radiated a lot of body heat so he kept me nice and warm at night.

THE NEXT DAY

We had to move again, a group of walkers once again moved through so we had to get the hell out of there and we only stopped for lunch. Pulling over to the side of the road we all sat and began to eat the a little bit of the food that we had.

As we were sitting Lori slightly jumped. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," she replied laughing, "Baby kicked, that's all."

"May I?" I asked.

She smiled. "Of course."

I held up my hand and she took my wrist and put my hand wear the baby was kicking. "Now imagine two pairs of feet kickin' like that."

"I could never manage…"

"My best friend did," I replied, pulling my hand away," Monica…she…she always joked that she had the next FIFA Cup champs in her belly. Pretty good on their little league soccer team too."

"What happened to them?" she asked cautiously.

I shrugged. "Last time I saw Monica, her husband, and the twins I was visitin' her in Atlanta just before the break out and then…she had to leave to get to her parents to make sure they were safe. Everythin' went dead before I could contact her again."

She grabbed my wrist and placed it back on her belly. "Don't be sad…be happy."

I laughed, feeling the kicks and knowing that this was her attempt to make me feel better.

DARYL'S POV

"Damn babies, make women all sappy," I complained, as T-Dog and I stood leaning against the car smoking some cigarettes that we had found while searching through one of the houses.

"Could be worse," he remarked.

"How?" I questioned.

"If we weren't in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, they could be sitting there braiding each other's hair, painting each other's nails, and talking about how you and Rick didn't do something that they asked you to," he replied.

I thought for a minute thinkin' of all the things that could go wrong with that that scenario. "You could be right with that."

He was quiet for a minute after that but then finally spoke up. "Stop me if I'm prying too much, but you ever thought if you and Jewels weren't in this particular situation if you would be in the same spot that Rick and Lori are?"

"You mean with a kid on the way?" I asked, earning a nod. I just shrugged my shoulders. "She…when she found out Lori was pregnant, man she took it like a slap in the face what she never got to have. What she missed out on, she always wanted kids. Me though…never thought about bein' dad, always had it in my head that I'd never make a good family man let alone a dad. Plus I ain't really the type of guy that a girl would want to take home to her folks."

T-Dog gave a chuckle. "Man, you wouldn't be thinking all that crap if you could see the way that you and Jewels look at each other. Your eyes meet and…there's like this spark. Everyone knows you love her, and you quit hiding the 'I love you's about a month or so ago…."

I looked over at Jewels as I lit another cigarette, and I could still hear T-Dog talkin', but I wasn't concentratin' on his words. I could hear Jewels laughin' along with Lori and now Maggie. We had come to the conclusion a long time ago that we would have gotten together if we had met before all this shit happened. Since then we hadn't talked about anything alone those lines…she hadn't even mentioned kids unless it was about Lori's baby.

She looked over at me and smiled before lookin' away again. Whenever we would stop to take a rest I always noticed that she would periodically look to see where I was, ain't like it was any different for me. But it still also amused me, even after all these months of this, that I had someone lookin' to me for safety and comfort. But…a kid? I ain't the fatherly type, plus we had enough problems getting' Lori someplace safe. I don't think I could handle seein' Jewels go through that.

JEWELS'S POV

I caught myself looking over my shoulder for Daryl and saw him looking at me, cigarette hanging from his mouth. I couldn't help but smile, before I turned away. It was out of habit now that I looked to see where Daryl was. Sure I could take care of myself, and since my hand was completely healed I had no problem using my bow or knife. But I always looked to see where he was...I guess it was almost a comfort thing, not just knowing that he would protect me, but knowing that he was still there…still standing.

"You ever want kids?" Lori asked.

I nodded. "Once upon a time…but I let that dream go once all this shit happened." She frowned and I immediately felt guilty. "I'm not saying that I'm not happy for you."

"She gave a small smile," she said, giving a small nod, "It's just sad knowing that you had to let something like that go."

I looked back over my shoulder for a brief second before looking at the ground, resting my head on my hand with my elbow propped up on my knee. "I just happened to find a good man _after_ the world went to shit…that's all."

"I know what you mean," Maggie agreed, looking at Glenn.

"Think it would have been different if you'd meant before hand?" Lori asked.

I nodded, looking at her. "I don't know about the whole kid thing. Don't know how Daryl feel about that, but I just think…I think a lot of things would have been different. Might be livin' in a fantasy world with this one, but…I don't know, I think maybe me and Daryl would be cabin-like house, close to the woods…I would still have a café, he would still hunt…that type of thing." Lori smirked and I just blinked at her. "What?"

"You and Daryl alone in a cabin in the woods…I think you two would have more than your fair share of fun," she said with a chuckle.

"What are you implying?" I asked, trying to play dumb even though I could feel the heat rising up my neck.

"Don't think no one heard you last week," Maggie replied, "The walls of that house we were in were not meant to keep the sounds that were coming from that bedroom a secret from the people on the other side. You two kept me and Glenn up all night."

I knew at that point that I was completely red at that point, as red as a ripe tomato in the spring. I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to hide my face and thought back to that night. It had been the first time we had been behind closed doors in weeks. As soon as the door was closed Daryl and I were all over each other. He had taken his time and spent the whole night exploring my body, like he had never seen it before.

Just sitting there thinking about the way my body felt every time his fingers touched me, every time he placed gentle kisses on my skin made my tingle. He had been so gentle that time, not like how he normally was when we made love; normally he like it faced paced and hard. This time though, he drew it out as long as possible. The only time he got back to his normally rhythm was when he could tell that I was getting close, and he wanted to hear me scream his name. The old bed had creaked under us and the springs of the mattress and wood of the bed frame creaked.

"Is he really that good?" Lori whispered in my ear, snapping me out of dreamland.

I let out a sigh and looked at her. "We broke the bed."

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	33. I Can't Hide This From Him

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

**Note: I hope y'all are ready cause this is defiantly gonna be an interesting chap! Please review once you read. I would really know what you think. Also feel free to PM me if you have any ideas that you would like to share with me :) Happy reading!**

House after house, we cleared it. We made sure we left nothing behind that we could possibly use. Our food was running low…Daryl and I caught what we could. But it wasn't always enough.

We charged into a house, taking down the walkers that were in the main hall before searching the rest of the house for others. Going up stairs I stayed close to Daryl and he ushered me over to a door.

"Dinner…" he whispered before pushing open the door the rest of the way to reveal an owl perched on the back of a chair. He carefully walked in the room and him and the owl had a stare down before Daryl shot it with an arrow. He picked it up and started to de-feather it. "Ever have owl before?"

"Does it taste anything like squab?" I asked, remembering when my culinary teacher (who happened to be French and very much into expanding the culinary minds of his students) decided to have a strange foods week and everyone picked a food that they might find as "strange". Someone chose squab…

"The hell is squab?" he asked.

"Its pigeon…it tastes kinda like the dark meat of chicken, but it's kinda fatty like duck," I replied.

"Sure…it tastes like that," he said, shaking his head, "Squab…Jesus Christ…"

"Don't hate," I said, following him back down the stairs to where the others were already gathered.

He continued to de-feather the owl while I sat and rested with the others. Carl who had apparently still been searching around the house came back with two cans…of dog food. As he began to open one Rick grabbed it and looked at it before throwing it across the room.

Rick was just about at his wits end. Lori was now nine months pregnant and we still didn't have a place where Lori could safely give birth.

"Psst," T-Dog said, motioning out the window.

'_Great…more walkers,'_ I thought as we snuck out the back door and back to the vehicles. I got on the back of the motorcycle and hung onto Daryl as we sped off down the road getting out of dodge as quickly as possible. After everyone was out of dodge we stopped and Maggie put a map on the hood of the car she had been in and everyone gathered 'round.

"We got no place left to go," T-Dog said.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off, we'll never make it south," Maggie said.

"What do you say, it's about 150 head?" Daryl said.

"At least," I replied, "Probably more."

"That was last week, could be twice that now," Glenn added.

"This river could have delayed them," Hershel suggested, pointing at the map, "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this."

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one, they could spill out this way," T-Dog said.

"So we're blocked," Maggie said.

"Only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville," Rick said.

"Haven't we done that already?" I asked.

"We picked through that already," T-Dog said, confirming what I thought, "It's like we spent the whole winter going in circles."

"Yeah, I know. I know," Rick said, "At Newnan we'll push west. Haven't been through the area. We can't keep going house to house." He looked over at Lori who still sat in the car. "We need to find some place to hold up for a few weeks."

"Alright. Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? It won't take long…we gotta fill up on water, we can boil it later," T-Dog said.

"Knock yourself out," Rick agreed as we all headed back to the cars.

"I don't like the fact that we're back tracking again," I told Daryl once we were back by the motorcycle, "We're just wasting fuel by doing this."

"Only thing we can do right now, unless you got some other bright idea that ya'd like to share with the class," he said.

"Its just, we're using all this fuel goin' in circles and we've already syphoned as many cars in the area as we can," I said, "That the only thing I'm worried about…and the more we circle, the more we get-." I stopped when I saw right started to walk in our direction.

"Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot," Daryl suggested to both me and Rick.

I thought back to the owl and my stomach kinda turn. _'It did not tasted like squab.'_

We agreed and headed out, walking down an old set of railroad tracks until we came across a prison surrounded by walkers.

"That's a shame," Daryl said.

Next thing we know, Rick has us all at the fence of the prison cutting into the fence of the catwalk. "Watch the backside!"

"Got it," Lori said.

We ran down the path and walkers came to the fence. We got to the door and Daryl opened it and Daryl opened the door from the catwalk and we made our way to the main gate.

"Its perfect," Rick said, the wheels turning in his head, "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked.

"I'll do it," Glenn volunteered, "You guys cover me."

Maggie immediately cut in. "No, it's a suicide run."

"I'm the fastest," he argued.

"No," Rick stated, "You, Maggie and Beth Draw as many as you can over there. " He pointed over to the far end of the gates and they nodded. "Pop them through the fence." He looked at me and Daryl. "You two go back to the other tower."

"Aye, aye, captain," I said, before we headed to the guard tower. Once up there we were soon joined by Carol who had a rifle.

I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and got ready, as soon as Rick started to run towards the prison…it was go time. Arrows began to fly from my bow, sometimes two at a time, the velocity of arrow sending it right through the walkers' skull and to the ground, brain matter flying with it. Between arrows, bullets, and sharp objects…soon the yard was cleared and we were able to walk in.

"We haven't had this much space since we left the farm," Carol said with a laugh.

"Woooo!" T-Dog cheered, running into the prison yard like a school boy.

Later that night we sat around the campfire and ate some food that we managed to catch.

"Mmmm…just like mom used to make," Glenn said blandly.

Maggie pushed him softly and gave a smile.

"Tomorrow, we'll put all the bodies together. We want to keep them away from that water," T-Dog said, "Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water."

"The soil is good, we could plant some see, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans," Hershel started, but then looked over at Rick who was once again inspecting the fence, "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."

I looked down by the over turned car that was down by the main gate. Daryl had been standing watch and hadn't come to dinner, so I grabbed at bowl and headed down to the gate.

He heard me coming and turned to look to see who was coming. When he saw it was me he gave a cat call. "With a walk like that I would think you were tryin' to seduce me." He smirked and I shook my head as I walked around to the other side of the car.

I held up the dish and he grabbed it before helping me up onto the car. "I knew that if I didn't bring you some food you wouldn't eat. It's not much but it's better than you not eating at all."

"Guess little Shane over there's got quite the appetite," he joked.

I laughed and shook my head. "Don't be mean, Rick's gotten us a lot further than I think any of us thought he would…Shane defiantly could never have done that."

He nodded and finished off his food. "Better get back." He climbed down off the car first and then helped me down and as soon as my feet touched the ground he pulled me close to him. "We're alone for the first time in a while," he said, cupping my cheek, "You and I could screw around a bit."

Seeing the lust in his eyes, I was so tempted to just let him do my right then and there. But I had been hadn't been able to tell him something. We were moving around so much that every time I tried to tell him we would get interrupted by one thing or another, or I would just clam up.

I turned my head and kissed the palm of his hand. "Not tonight."

"I…" he started, opening and closing his mouth like a fish, "Why?"

"It's…" I started but my mind shit down again, "I'm just tired and I think that you and I should just sleep tonight knowing that there is a fence around us, keeping walkers out."

He nodded and kissed my forehead. "All right…I love ya."

"I love you too," I said. _'I can't hide it forever,'_ I thought, _'I can't hide the fact that I have missed my period forever from him.'_

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: And yes, I am going to leave it there for now! Muhahahaha. Until next time.**_


	34. Ain't Nothin' For Him To Know

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Walking back from the gate I had a lot on my mind. I knew I had to tell him, but I couldn't until I was sure. I didn't want to take the chance of possibly spooking him, we had gotten so close over the last year that I didn't want anything to happen because I _might_ be pregnant.

We got over to the fire and Rick was explaining the game plan for tomorrow.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we gotta push just a little more," he said, "Most of the walkers are dressed as guards or prisoners, looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be intact. They have infirmary, a commissary."

"An armory?" Daryl asked.

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away," Rick replied, "Warden's offices would have information on the location. Weapons, food, medicine, this place could be a gold mine!"

"We're dangerously low on ammo," Hershel said, "We'll run out before we make a dent."

"That's why we gotta go in there. Hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance," he said, before getting up and walking up Lori following him.

"Gonna be a long day tomorrow," I said, as Daryl and I made ourselves comfortable for the night.

"Yeah…" he said, looking over at the prison.

THE NEXT MORNING

"Ready?" Hershel asked as we got to the gate to the courtyard, weapons at the ready.

We all nodded and Rick opened the gate and T-Dog lead the way in. We all started stabbing walkers in the head, slowly making our way to the prison. Soon we had the courtyard empty and I wiped my knife off on my pants. But it was too soon for that, there was another courtyard with more walkers. This time some of the walkers were guards who had body armor so it was harder to kill the bastards. But where there's a will there's a way and Maggie found a way.

She took the sharpened pipe she was holding and shoved it up through the chin of the walker, under the mask it was wearing. "See that?" she said, with a broad, proud smile on her face.

We began doing the same thing and soon we managed to get to the prison and closed the door behind us. Making our way down the halls we watched for walkers and made our way to cell block C, an empty cell block that was perfect for us to set up in.

"What do you think?" Rick asked.

"Home sweet him," Glenn said, tossing his and Maggie's stuff into one of the cells.

"It's secure?" Lori asked.

"This cell block is," Rick replied with a smile.

"What about the rest of the prison?" Hershel questioned.

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria and the infirmary," Rick said.

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth asked, eyeing the cells.

"I found the keys on some guards, Daryl has a set too," he said.

"I ain't sleepin' in no cage," Daryl stated, "I'll take the perch."

"Where you go…I shall follow," I joked, following him up to the perch.

He spread out our sleeping bags near the stairs and just about threw himself down. I sat down next to him and looked around the cell block.

"What's wrong?" he asked, placing his hand on the small of my back.

"Last time I was at a prison…I was there to identify my father's body after he had been killed," I said.

"Deserved what he got…" he said gruffly, "Whatever he got…beatin' ya like that…"

I looked at him, his blue eyes with an intense gaze. "You might be right…ain't no place in the world for child beaters in my book. Don't mean I every wished him dead, but I did want to make sure he was dead. That's why I wanted to be the one to identify him…I was next of kin; morgue attendant almost shit his pants when he saw me walk into the prison morgue. Ten year old kid there to identify the body…one for the record books…"

"Can't say that I blame you, makin' sure your nightmare was really over," he said, "Now you're stuck in another one."

I laid down and put my head on his chest. "This one ain't so bad." My mind then wandered to what I had been trying so hard to tell him; and now that we were in the confines of the prison, away from walkers, away from danger for now…maybe now was the time. "Daryl…there's somethin' I got to tell ya."

"Can it wait 'til after a nap?" he questioned, his eyelids slowly closing.

I reached up and kissed him. "Of course. Get some sleep." I didn't need to tell him twice because as soon as his eyes were closed he was out like a light. I carefully pulled away from him and quickly ran down the stairs.

"Everything okay?" Rick asked, as I ran passed him.

"Gotta take a piss," I replied, before disappearing into one of the vacant cells. _'This is ridiculous,'_ I thought as I sat on the toilet, _'I haven't drank that much water and I'm peein' all the damn time.' _Once I was _finally_ done I made my way back to the perch and plopped back down for a much needed nap.

LATER

We began to pile up the different weapons that we had found onto one of the tables in the cell block, it wasn't much, but it was enough to be somewhat usefull…maybe.

"Not bad," Daryl said, looking at the collection.

"Flashbangs, CS Triple-Chasers. Not sure how they'd work on walkers, but we'll take them," Rick said.

I picked up one of the flashbangs and looked at it. "I watched a lot of cop shows and I've always wanted to try one of these." Daryl took it from me and set it back on the table. "What? Not like its illegal anymore for me to use one."

"Have you tried?" Rick asked suspiciously.

"Um…when I was a teenager I had some not so good influential friends who altered fireworks, but that was a long time ago," I replied with a chuckle, "These though…these are the real deal." I picked it up again, only to have Daryl take it away again. "You're no fun."

"They ain't toys," he said.

"I know that…" I replied, "And when the hell did you become the voice of reason?"

"Since now," he replied, "And what the hell is with this shit?" He held up some body armor that had been found lying around and that still had walker gunk stuck to it. "I ain't wearin' this shit."

T-Dog picked up a walker slimed cover glove and looked at it. "We could boil them."

"Ain't enough firewood in a whole forest, no! besides, we've made it this far without them right?" Daryl said, dropping the body armor back on the table.

I shook my head and then thought of something and looked at T-Dog.

"What?" he asked.

"I think you're the only black man in history to break _into_ prison," I joked. Everyone was silent for a minute before they burst into laughter.

"Think you're right about that one," T-Dog agreed.

"Hershel?" Carol called, quickly walking into the room.

"Everything alright?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, nothing to worry about," Carol replied, but she still had a slightly trouble look on her face, "Lori asked for you too, Jewels."

"Oh um…okay…" I said a bit confused. Over the last few months, I will admit that Lori and I bonded…it was probably the whole baby thing and all, but she had never asked for me before.

I followed Carol and Hershel to the cell that Lori had chosen and saw her sitting there looking troubled. "It's the baby, I think I lost it," she said.

"You haven't felt it move?" he asked.

"Nothing…" she replied, "And no Braxton-Hicks. At first, I thought it was exhaustion and malnutrition."

"Are you anemic?" he asked.

She nodded. "If we're all infected, then so is the baby…so what if it's stillborn? What if it's dead inside me right now, what if it rips me apart?"

I put my hands on her shoulders and she looked at me. "Lori…you can't think that way. You have to stay positive, the baby may just not be active right now…you can't let yourself get stressed out because of fear. That's not good for you or the baby."

"Okay…so let's say it lives, and I die during childbirth?" she said.

"That's not gonna happen," Hershel said.

"Why not?" she questioned, "How many women died in childbirth before modern medicine? If I come back, what if I attack it? Or you, Rick, Carl…if I do, if there's any chance, you put me down immediately, you don't hesitate." She started to cry and I sat down next to her. "Me, the baby…if we're walkers, you don't hesitate, and you don't try to save us! Okay?"

Hershel nodded not wanting to argue with her request.

"It might have been better if…" she started.

"If what?" he asked.

"If I'd never made it off the farm," she finished.

"You exhausted, frightened," he said, trying to get her to calm down.

"Yeah, that's true….but my son can't stand me. And my husband, after what I put him through," she said.

"We've all been carrying that weight…all winter," he said.

"I tried to talk to him. He…" she started, but trailed off.

"He'll come around…"

"He hates me. He's too good a man to say it, but…I know. I put him and Shane at odds, I put that knife in his hands!" she cried.

"You know who doesn't give a shit about that? This baby," he said, "Now let's make sure everything's alright." He did a full examination and determined that the baby was probably fine. Once he was done, him and Carol left but I stayed behind to talk to Lori.

"Carl don't hate ya," I said.

"He won't even look at me without this hateful look in his eye," she said.

"It ain't that…" I said with a sigh, "He's 13 now and no offense you still treat him like he's 5. He ain't tryin' to be hateful, he's tryin' to get ya to see that he don't need ya to watch over him with every little thing and he don't need ya to act like ya need to hold his hand."

"I…I didn't think I was doing that."

"It ain't like you mean to, your instinct to take care of him is just there…'specially now."

"I just…I just feel if I let go completely, I'll lose him for good."

I thought for a second. "When I was eight and went to go live with my grandparent, my granddaddy he would hold my hand all the time. Wantin' to make sure nothin' happened to his grandbaby ever again, the only time he didn't hold my hand it seemed like was when we were huntin'. The last time he ever held my hand was the day that I decided that I wanted to be the one to identify my father's body at the prison morgue."

"Why?"

"I didn't even know that for fifteen years, then when I was 25 me and him were sittin' watching the football game on Thanksgiving, drinkin' some beers and finally I got out of him why…he said it was cause he saw a young girl make an adult decision that day and that he didn't need to hold my hand anymore." She just stared at me, looking like she was trying to let everything that I said sink in. "All it is is that he's growin' up and he wants you to see that, you have nothin' to worry about."

"Thank you…" she said quietly. I patted her shoulder and got up to leave, but she called me back. "You've been acting strange the past few days…what's bothering you?"

I looked over my shoulder at her before looking down at the floor. "That's um…it's nothin'."

"Jewels…" she said.

I looked back at her and she had almost this knowing look in her eyes. "Does he know?"

"Ain't nothin' for him to know 'til I really know…" I lied, heading back to the others to get ready to secure the rest of the prison. I didn't need anyone to be butting into this at this point, I had to do this on my terms

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	35. The Prisoners

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

"Everythin' okay over there?" Daryl asked once I returned to the group.

"What?" I asked.

"Everythin' okay?" he repeated, "Ya know, with Lori."

"Oh…yeah," I replied, trying to refocus my mind, "She just needed to talk…that's all."

"Pfft…women and your talkin'," he mumbled.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Would you rather me be talkin' shit out or doin' this…" I pulled my knife out and threw it at one of the corpses that T-Dog had thrown in the "to be burned" pile and hit it square between the eyes.

"Nice shot," he said.

"Used to practice with tree and a picture of my ex," I said, looking at him.

"Remind me never to piss ya off," he said.

"I think you should know better by now," I joked, going and grabbing my knife. Soon Maggie and Glenn joined me and the others and I turned to them. "When ya guys takin' your next run?"

"Probably in the next few days, why?" Glenn asked.

"I need to go with," I replied.

"You can just send a list with us," Maggie said, "We'll pick up whatever you need."

"I'd rather get it myself," I said, shortly.

"What ya got to get that's so important?" Daryl asked, his curiosity now perked.

"Fine, next time we get to some civilization I'll send ya to get my tampons," I lied/snapped. After I realized that I had snapped at him and everyone was staring at me I covered my mouth with my hand. "I'm sorry…"

"Its fine…" he said, his ears turning red.

I saw Lori out of the corner of my eye and she was standing over to the side with her arms crossed and a frown on her face. I cleared my throat. "Let's get this shit taken care of…"

We finished getting ready and Carl was bound and determined to go with us, but Rick pulled the helmet off his head. "You won't need that, I need you to stay put."

"You're kidding!" Carl protested.

"We don't know what's in there, if something goes wrong, you could be the last man standing," Rick said, "I need you to handle things here."

"Sure," Carl said, seeming to understand what he was getting at.

"Great, let's go," he said.

We left the cell block, Carl locking the door behind us and we started to make our way down the corridors. At first it seemed like either the walkers that attacked each other or probably the guards of other prisoners tried to kill as many as they could because there were walker corpses that littered the floor. We made our way further into the prison, but when we turned a corner we were cut off by a group of walkers.

"Go back, go back! Go back, move! This way!" Rick yelled.

"Come on, come on!" Glenn yelled, pulling Maggie with him.

"Come one, this way!" Daryl said.

We started to run back the way we came and the walkers started to catch up. "Run! Go!" I yelled. We kept running and suddenly Maggie, Glenn, and I were ambushed and had to run to a different room and close the door. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"What are we gonna do?" Maggie asked, as I stabbed one of the walkers through the crack of the door.

"Survive," I told her, "Here…take my place." She walked over and pushed on the door. "Glenn, I'm gonna need your help." He nodded and came and stood next to me and we stood facing the door. "Maggie…when I give you the signal, I want you to open the door, and Glenn and I will start clearing the path, got it?" She looked nervous but nodded. "Good…now!"

She opened the door and the walkers began to pour in and Glenn began hacking away at them, while I began shooting arrows at them. Maggie joined Glenn with the hacking as we moved through the walkers and I pulled my arrows out of the downed walkers as we moved forward.

"Rick?" Glenn called.

"Dad? Dad?" Maggie called.

"Daryl!" I called.

"Mag? Mag?" we heard Hershel call.

"This way…" I said, and we went running down the hall. We heard a blood curtailing yell and a gun shot and we picked up the pace. Arriving at where the others were we saw that Hershel was on the ground, a bite on his lower leg.

"No! No, daddy! No!" Maggie screamed running to his side.

Hershel's screams began attracting more walkers and soon there were walkers on either side of us.

"Daryl!" Rick said.

"Run!" T-Dog said.

Rick and Glenn helped Hershel up and tried to get him from the room but we were blocked again.

"God! Oh, god! Oh, god!" Hershel groaned.

"That way!" Rick said, pointing at a door, "Go, go!" We ran towards the door the walkers close behind and Hershel groaning at every small movement.

"Get in, get in!" Daryl said, ushering us in before closing the door behind us.

Rick and Glenn laid Hershel down on the floor and Rick put his belt around his leg to stop the bleeding. "Hold him down!" Rick yelled. We did as he said and he pulled out an axe. "Only one way to keep him alive!" He began to cut off Hershel's leg, cutting off the bitten area. Hershel screamed in pain but soon passed out because of the pain. "He's bleeding out," he said, standing up.

"Duck," Daryl suddenly said, pointing his crossbow behind Rick.

Rick did and Daryl pointed his flashlight at the caged wall. I looked and my eyes widened. "They're human…" I said seeing five men in prison jumpsuits.

"Holy shit," one of them said seeing us.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl asked, walking towards them.

"Unicorns, Daryl," I said sarcastically. He stopped walking and I saw him let out a heavy breath. _'The hell…'_ I thought, not liking the snappiness that I was getting.

"Who the hell are you?" one of the prisoners asked.

"Don't say a word," Daryl said, looking at me out of the corner of my eye.

"I wasn't going to," I said, putting my hands up defensively.

"He's bleeding out, we gotta go back!" Rick said, "Maggie, come around here. Put pressure on the knee! Hard! Hard! Push, push!"

"Come on out of there," Daryl said to the prisoners, "Slow and steady."

The prisoners slowly came out from their hiding spot and one of them looked at Hershel. "What happened to him?" an inmate with long black hair asked.

"He got bit," Daryl replied.

"Bit?" the inmate asked, pulling out a gun.

I quickly raised my bow. "I'd put that away."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now. Nobody needs to get hurt," Daryl said.

"You got medical supplies?" Glenn asked, going into the room where the prisoners had been.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" a large heavy set inmate asked.

"Who the hell are you people anyway?" the longhaired inmate asked.

"Don't look like no rescue team!" the blonde inmate said.

"If a rescue team's what you're waiting for, don't!" Rick stated, as Glenn wheeled a table over and they lifted Hershel onto it.

"Holy Jesus," the blonde inmate said, as blonde from Hershel's leg went spraying.

"T, open that door," Rick said.

"Are you crazy? Don't open that!" one of the inmates yelled.

"We got this," T-Dog said as he opened the door and shot a walker.

The others made their way out of the room and Daryl and I stayed behind, pointing our weapons at the inmates as the longhair inmate pointed his gun at us.

"Daryl! Jewels!" Rick called.

We slowly backed out of the room and ran back to the cell block. We could hear the inmates following us, there was a commotion as we entered as everyone started to take care of Hershel but Daryl and I stayed just outside of the cell block.

"Go up to the perch," he said.

"Yes sir," I agreed jogging up the stairs. I got up to the perch and pulled out two arrows, aiming them at the doorway, while Daryl sat on the table aiming his crossbow at the doorway as well.

"That's far enough," Daryl said as the inmates walked through the doorway.

"Cell block C. Cell four, that's mine, gringo. Let me in," the longhaired inmate said, continuing to walk forward.

"Today's your lucky day, fellas," Daryl said, "You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia, you're free to go."

"What you go going on in there?" long hair asked.

"Ain't none of your concern," Daryl growled.

The long hair inmate pulled out his gun and pointed it at Daryl. "Don't be telling me what's my concern."

"He said it ain't none of your concern," I said, causing the inmates to look up at me, "So I would back off."

"See those two arrows?" Daryl asked, "She ain't kiddin' right now."

The heavyset inmate looked at the longhaired inmate. "Chill, man. Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now! Why are we still here?"

"Man's got a point," Daryl said.

"Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady," the larger black inmate said.

"Group of civilians breaking into a prison you've got no business being in, got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go!" long hair said.

"Why don't you find out," Daryl suggested.

"Maybe we'll just be leaving," the blonde inmate said, trying to suggest to the others that they should leave.

"Best idea you boys have had since ya stepped in the room," I commented.

"Hey, we ain't leaving!" long hair snapped before looking up at me, "And I sure as hell ain't gonna take no lip from some bitch."

"Hey!" Daryl snapped, standing up, "That's my woman, and you're gonna show some respect before I drop you."

"Hey, this is my house, my rules, I go and do what I damn well please!" long hair snapped.

"There ain't nothin' for you here, why don't you go back to your own sandbox," Daryl said.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Rick said, running into the room, "Everyone relax, there's no need for this."

"How many of you in there?" long hair asked.

"Ain't none of your concern," I said, lowering my bow but still tense and watching for the slightest change in the prisoners body language.

"Too many for you to handle," Rick replied.

"You guys rob a bank or something?" long hair asked, "Why don't you take him to a hospital?"

Rick looked from me to Daryl and then back at the prisoners. "How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"

"Going on like ten months," long hair replied.

"A riot broke out, never seen anything like it," the heavy set prisoner added.

"Attica on speed, man," the blonde added, shaking his head at the thought.

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy," one of the other prisoners added.

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria, told us to sit tight, threw me this piece…said he'd be right back," long hair finished.

The heavy set prisoner shook his head. "And that was 292 days ago."

"94 according to my…"

"Shut up!" long hair snapped cutting off the blonde.

"We were thinking that the army or National Guard should be showing up any day now," the heavy set prisoner said.

"There is no army," Rick said, looking at the ground.

"What do you mean?" long hair asked.

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police…it's all gone," Rick explained.

There was a shock that crossed the prisoner's faces. I _almost_ felt bad for them…not knowing the cruel things that was going on in the world. Being naïve enough to think that there was still someone out there in the grand scheme of things to come rescue you…

"For real?" the blonde asked.

"What about my moms?" the heavy set inmate asked.

"My kids, my old lady!" the buffer black inmate said, starting to freak out, "Yo, you got a cell-phone or something so we can call our families?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Daryl asked.

"There ain't nothin' left," I said, "No phones, no computers…it ain't the same world that you remember."

"As far as we can see, at least half the population's been wiped out…probably more," Rick said.

"Ain't no way," long hair said.

"See for yourself," Rick said, leading them to the courtyard.

'_This should be interesting,'_ I thought.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: Sorry this one took so long to get out, power was out so I wasn't able to post it. It was literally done last night but I was in the dark with no internet. But I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget that you can find my writer's facebook page, Princess Jewels on facebook (duh lol). I post pics, story updates, when I might be able to get the chaps out, and things such as when I'm in the middle of black outs so you will know if I am updating stuff. I will also will be posting pics from this upcoming Sakura-con in Seattle in April! Yes, I do cosplay and I will be doing a steampunk zombie hunter as one of my costumes. So check out my FB Page! And once again thank you for all the reviews!**_


	36. Food, Glorious Food

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

The guys decided that they would walk the prisoners out to the courtyard to show them what was really going on with the outside world, but I stayed behind to go check on things with Hershel.

"It has to stop eventually, right?" I heard Lori ask, "It's slowed down quite a bit."

"If we can get him through this…" Carol started.

"_When_ we get him through this," Lori corrected her.

"We'll need crutches," Carol said.

Lori sighed. "Right now, we could use some antibiotics. Pain killers, some sterile gauze. There's gotta be an infirmary here."

"If there's on, we'll find it," Carol said, "You gotta be worried sick about delivering the baby."

"Look at me, I look worried?" Lori asked, with a slight chuckle.

I stepped in the cell and looked at her. "You look beautifully disgusting," I joked.

She looked at me and frowned before rushing over and inspecting me. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I tried to assure her, looking down at myself, "Ain't my blood." I was covered head to toe with a mixture of walker gunk and Hershel's blood that had gotten on me when we moved him onto the table. I wasn't exactly a pretty sight to behold.

She sighed. "I just…"

"Lori…stop, please," I said, "Just…stop."

"Is everything okay?" Carol asked.

"Its fine," I lied, before Lori could reply.

"Okay…what's going on out there?" she questioned.

"We found survivors…" I replied. I told them about the prisoners and they just stared at me in shock.

"What are they gonna do with them?" Lori asked.

"I ain't gotta clue," I replied, "I came back here to check on Hershel and the guys went and took those boys out to the courtyard to show 'em how much the world really has gone to shit. They've been living in the cafeteria for 10 months…still thought there was a chance that the National Guard or Army could come and save their asses. Thought there might still be cell phones available…it's funny, I always complained to my staff about the kids that I would see come in and sit across from their parents and not be talkin' to 'em, just fiddlin' around with their phones, and now I actually miss mine."

"It's the small things that you start to miss at times like this," Lori agreed.

"Like pizza…I miss pizza, a lot," I said, "Pizza and beer and watching sports. I miss watchin' hockey, and NASCAR…who knew you could miss turning left and going fast so much!"

She let out a laugh. "I used to complain about Rick having the TV up so damn loud during football games. I miss yelling at him to turn the damn TV down."

I looked at her. "You think any of the players out there are still alive?"

"I…never thought about that before," she thought.

"Patrice Bergeron from the Bruins…Sidney Crosby from the Penguins…Dustin Brown from the Kings…Bryce Salvador from the Devils…" I stopped and looked at her and she was giving me this confused looked, "My hockey teams must have survived!"

"What about hockey?" Daryl asked, walking into the cell making me jump.

"She's worried none of her favorite players survived," Lori replied with a chuckle.

"That's all right," he said, with a grin, "I've still got more than they could ever hope for."

I looked down at the front of his pants and then back up. "You never really can tell with all that padding that they wear," I joked.

"That ain't even cool," he said.

Lori laughed.

"Yo, food's here!" T-Dog yelled.

We walked out to where the "eating area" and saw a whole bunch of food being loaded onto the table. "Damn…" I said, looking at more food than we had really had in the past few months.

"What you got?" Carol asked.

"Canned beef, canned corn, canned cans!" T-Dog said, "There's a lot more where this came from in one of the cells."

I looked at all the food and saw a big sack of instant mashed potatoes. "I'll fix dinner tonight."

"What you got in mind, chef?" T-Dog asked.

"Corn chowder," I replied.

"Mmm," he hummed, "That sounds delicious."

"Haven't made it with instant potatoes before, but it'll taste fine just the same, I'm sure," I said, "Were there spices in the cafeteria at all?"

"Some…" he replied, "What me to get some of 'em?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way," I replied.

"Yes, chef," he said.

"Living beside each other?!" I heard Lori asked, and I looked over to see her staring at Rick in disbelief.

"I'm not giving up this prison," Rick tried to assure her.

"Do they have guns?"

"Only saw one. I don't know if it's gonna work…"

"Well, what are your options?"

"Kill 'em."

"If that's what you think is best."

Rick gave a nervous laugh and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Look, I know that I'm a shitty wife, and I'm not winning any "mother of the year" awards, but I need toy to know that not for one second do I think there's malice in your heart," she said, "You're not a killer, and I know that. I know that so…so do whatever you gotta do to keep this group safe, and do it with a clear conscience."

Rick nodded and looked at me. "I'm putting you in charge of the food."

"That's perfectly fine with me," I agreed. He left and Lori sat down on one of the benches. "He'll figure somethin' out…"

"I know…" she agreed, "What do you think they should do?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"With the prisoners," she replied, "They're gonna give them their own cell block and they're gonna have to fend for themselves, but I'm still not comfortable with them being here…what do you think they should do?"

"Find the warden's log book," I replied, shorty.

"What?"

"In the warden's office, there are all the files of all the inmates. But the warden also keeps a quick reference log book so that when he or she has to speak with an inmate they don't have to go searchin' for the files. They can just flip to the inmate's page and get the quick information like their age and what they're in for and all that shit. I would find the warden's office, see if the log book is still intact, get the inmate's names and see what they were in for."

"To see if they're _dangerous _or not?"

"Yeah…there's a big difference between possession of narcotics and murder," I said.

"Would that make a difference as to whether they could stay or not?" she questioned.

"One of those guys…I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. Another one, he just seems like he doesn't like fighting, and the others were worried about their moms, old ladies, and kids…" I said, "I would rather know what they did."

"Your dad was…"

"I know Lori!" I snapped, "And the man died in prison…and if he hadn't and had been one of the guys in that cafeteria, I would have killed him myself!"

"Jewels…"

"I'm sorry…but prison isn't just a place that men go to rot, sometimes it is a wake up call…sometimes it is a revolvin' door. You never know, maybe a couple of those guys could be useful…they probably had jobs before prison and had prison jobs. But I would want to know what they did before I pass judgment myself."

"Unlike with Randall…"

"We'll never know what that kid really did," I said, thinking about how hard Dale fought to keep that kid alive, "I know he was guilty of something, but unlike here in this prison, there was no proof."

"I get it," she said.

"Here's the spices you asked for," T-Dog said, coming back in the room and dropping the spices on the table.

"Thanks," I said, "We'll have to get the fire wood and cookin' utensils up here."

"I'm going to go check on Hershel again," Lori said.

"All right," I replied.

"We're gonna get the cars up here later, so we'll have the all the stuff you'll need up here," T-Dog said.

I laughed. "Oh you have no idea…I never imagined myself doing this kind of cookin' outside of campin' and even then I had…" I picked up the bag of instant mashed potatoes. "Fresh ingredients."

"Spooooooooooiled," he joked.

"Kinda…" I agreed thinking about the colorful fruits and veggies that used to fill my kitchen.

Just then Carl ran by holding a bag.

"Looks like the kid went off by himself again," T-Dog commented.

"Looks like…" I agreed. There was some yelling from the cells and soon Carl came back into view. "By the way where did the others go?"

"They took the prisoners to go clear another cell block for them," he replied, "Daryl asked me to stay behind and help you out with getting anything from the cafeteria. He knows you to well and said you would run off and try to get everything yourself."

"Yeah, probably," I agreed.

"Do something!" Beth suddenly yelled, "Somebody help! Somebody! Please, help!"

We ran to the cells and saw that Lori was now standing over him doing CPR. "Come on! Come on!" she said.

Hershel suddenly grabbed her and Maggie pulled her away. Thankfully he had started breathing again and woken up for a split second before passing back out, but he was breathing normally.

I looked and saw that Carl had his gun pointed at Hershel, ready for the worst and I reached out and patted his shoulder. "It's good now." That's all I said to him before heading back over to the food and beginning to organize it. Canned goods, bagged goods, dry goods, spices, and even some dehydrated goods. It was a good mix of items and it would last of for a while.

"Food, glorious food," I sang, setting a can of corn next to me.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: Yeah, I didn't exactly follow the storyline in this chap, but you do what ya gotta do. So I hope you liked it anyway :) also I want to note that I have no idea what a warden actually does except for run the prison. But a log book sounds like a nifty idea if I do say so myself.**_


	37. Unspoken Apologies

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

It wasn't until a bit later that Rick and Daryl returned to the cell block, and they didn't look happy.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Depends what you mean by okay?" Daryl asked sourly.

"What happened?"

"The prisoners happened, that's what!"

"They don't fuckin' listen, they become pussies when it comes to havin' to take care of a friend that's gotten bit, and then a couple of them tried to fuckin' attack us."

"Daryl, just calm down a bit I get it but-"

"Don't tell me to calm down when you've been snappin' at everyone today," he snapped, "If I want to be pissed off, I'm gonna be pissed off." He went up to the perch and I just sat there at the table.

He was right and I wasn't going to argue that fact. I had been snapping at everyone, and there was no excuse for it, there might be one, but I wasn't even sure of that.

We didn't talk for the rest of the day, and that night I didn't even bother going up to the perch. I just sat that the table, the bag of instant mashed potatoes and cans of corn keeping me company. I would glance up every once and a while but all I could see was Daryl's back faced towards the edge of the perch, his breathing subtle.

I ended up falling asleep using my arms as a pillow on the table. I guess falling asleep there was better than staying up and stewing on what had happened. When I finally woke up to the sound of shuffling I had something carefully set over my shoulders, and looking I saw that it was one of Daryl's long sleeved shirts that was under his angel wing vest.

This was his way of apologizing…

Daryl and I never really did apologize much to each other for anything. There were "I'm sorry"s here and there, but nothing like wrapping our arms around each other and telling each other how sorry we were and then making out with each other.

It wasn't a goddamn fucking romance novel and I did not had the business-y sexy man who was going to pick me up in a limo, wine and dine me, give me some big fat diamond ring and constantly tell me that he loves me.

No…

I have a ruggedly sexy, crazy redneck who would, if this was not a zombie apocalypse, bring home a deer and look at me with those sexy blue eyes before asking me if I would start the gutting process while he got a beer. There would be no limo, no wining and dining, and no big fat diamond ring. There'd be a pickup truck, beer and venison, and maybe a small diamond ring or he would just go out and get me a new bow.

That's love right there…and I didn't need and of the fancy stuff or the elaborate apology. An elaborate apology is not Daryl's style. But making sure that I didn't get cold and even using his angel wing vest to do so…that was his way of apologizing. There were no words involved, I just knew…

I stood up and took the long sleeved shirt out of the vest and headed outside to see everyone getting ready to get the cars. "Why didn't anyone wake me?"

"I tried," Carol replied, "You were sound asleep."

"Sorry 'bout that," I apologized.

"It's no problem," she said.

I turned to Daryl and handed him his vest and he put it on. Again, nothing had to be said, he just leaned over and kissed the side of my head.

"Alright, let's get the other cars in," Rick said, looking out towards the field, "We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Good," Daryl said, "Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant "vacancy" sign."

"After that, we need to load up these corpses so we can burn them," Rick said.

"It's gonna be a long day…" T-Dog sighed.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Carol asked, "We could use some help."

"Up in the guard tower," Daryl replied.

"Guard tower?" Rick questioned, "They were just up there last night!"

We all looked up at the guard tower as Daryl shouted out to them. "Glenn! Maggie!"

Glenn came out of the guard tower with no shirt on, buttoning up his pants. "Hey! What's up guys?"

"I think I can guess what was," I replied.

The other's laughed.

"You comin'?" Daryl questioned.

"He was tryin' but ya had to go and interrupt," I said, slapping his arm.

"W…what?" Glenn asked.

Everybody just laughed at him. Him and Maggie were caught with their pants down and there was no two ways about it.

"You comin? Come on, we could use a hand!" Daryl said.

"Yeah, we'll be right down," Glenn finally managed to get out.

We all were laughing as we headed towards the cars, but suddenly T-Dog stopped in his tracks. "Hey Rick!"

Rick stopped smiling almost immediately when he saw what T-Dog did. The two prisoners that were left were out of their cell block and walking towards us and he started walking towards them. "That's close enough, we hand an agreement."

"Please, mister. We know that," the blonde said, "But you gotta understand! We can't lie in that place another minute, you follow me? All the bodies, people we knew! Blood, brains everywhere! There's ghosts!"

I felt myself become nauseous at the mention of "blood" and "brains". _'No body, do not do this to me,'_ I thought, holding my hand up to my mouth, trying not to draw attention to myself.

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl asked.

"You should be burning them," T-Dog added.

"We tried! We did!" the blonde said.

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison. Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up," the other inmate said, "So we dump in a body and just run back inside."

"Look! We had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew, nothing!" the blonde said, "You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro! We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group, just…please, pleases don't make us live in that place!"

"Our deal is not negotiable…you either live in your cell block, or you leave," Rick stated.

"I told you this was a waste of time," the other inmate said, looking at the blonde, "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw 'em out like…those were good guys. Good guys who had our back against the really bad dudes in the joint like Thomas and Andrew. Now, we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief, an I'm not gonna pretend to be a saint, but believe me…we paid our dues. Enough that we would rather hit that road, than to go back to that shithole."

Rick looked at Daryl who just shook his head. They decided that while they tried to decide what to do about the two prisoners (apparently Axel and Oscar), they locked them outside of the prison gate.

"Come on, dude!" Axel said.

T-Dog who didn't really care on the matter joined up with us as we debated.

"Are you serious?" Rick asked him, "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped," he replied, "Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable," Glenn commented, looking over at the two prisoners.

"After all we've been through? We fought so hard for all this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol asked.

"It's just been us for so long…they're strangers. I don't…it feels weird all of a sudden to have these other people around," Maggie added.

"You brought us in," T-Dog reminded her.

"Yeah, but y'all turned up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us a choice," she said.

"They can't even kill walkers," Glenn said.

"They're convicts, bottom line!" Carol said.

T-Dog shook his head. "Those two might actually have less blood on their hands than we do."

"I have to agree with T-Dog," I said, fighting the nausea, "They were locked in that cafeteria for 10 months _waitin'_ for someone to help 'em. Durin' that time and longer we've been fightin' for our lives. I think they're gonna be more enclined to help us, rather than was them other idiots pulled on y'all. And from listenin' to 'em back in the cell block…Axel ain't unstable he just don't like confrontation and Oscar over there is more worried about what might of happened to his old lady and kids, he's a family guy."

"I get guys like this…hell, I grew up with them," Daryl said, "They're degenerates, but they ain't psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

"So you with me?" T-Dog asked.

"Hell no!" Daryl replied, "Let 'em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"

"What I'm saying, Daryl…" T-Dog started.

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old, wanted for stabbing his girlfriend," Rick started, cutting him off, "The kid blubbered like a baby during interrogation, during the trial, suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to unsufficient evidence, and in 2 weeks he shot another girl. We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands." Rick then looked at me. "I'm surprised about you on this one, what with your father-."

"Would y'all quite bringing up my goddamn son of bitch of a fucking father?!" I snapped, "For god's sake he's dead!" I turned and started to walk away.

"Jewels…" I heard Rick said.

"Save it…y'all can move the cars by yourself," I said, walking back into the prison.

Once back in the prison, I lost it; and by lost it, I mean I ran over to one of the toilets in one of the cells and puked my guts up. I was nauseous and I was angry…not a good combinations.

My hair was moved away from my face and I saw Lori out of the corner of my eye. "It'll pass," she said, as she held my hair back for me. After I was done we just sat there for a while. "I know you want to deny it Jewels…I know you don't want to put any added pressure on the group and especially Daryl, but you can't deny it anymore. Can you?"

"I'm gonna go on that run with Maggie and Glenn and find a pregnancy test if I can…I just…I really have to be sure," I whispered, "I mean, I missed my period…I'm havin' these awful mood swings, I'm pissin' more than a Tennessee race horse, and now the nausea and throwin' up."

"We have a safer place now…for how long, I don't know. But this prison could be something good for all of us, and if you are pregnant, which I really think you are, everything will be just fine," she said, trying to assure me.

"Is this where you give me the talk about tellin' Daryl?" I questioned.

"Well…you can't exactly hide a pregnancy forever, so I do think you should tell him," she replied, standing up, "How you tell him is up to you. Now come on, we were just about to help Hershel go for a walk with his new crutches. It'd be good for you to get some air now that you're done emptying your stomach."

I nodded and stood up, going and grabbing my weapons (better safe than sorry) before heading back out to the courtyard.

"I got you here if you need it," Lori said, helping support Hershel as he got outside.

"Just take your time with those steps," Beth said as we came up to some steps and he started to make his way down them.

"Hey, you watch your step," Lori said as he stumbled a bit, "The last thing we need is you falling."

"You're doing great Hershel," I said, wanting to give him some encouragement.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl asked with a smile.

"You give me another day, I'll take you on," Hershel replied, causing us to laugh.

There was suddenly that familiar groaning sound and walkers appeared behind Carl. "Carl, down!" I said, quickly drawing arrows and firing them.

"Walkers! Look out!" Carl yelled, alerting the rest of the group.

The others tried to get to us but were forced to go around the other fence.

"Get out! Get out of there! No! Lori!" Rick yelled.

"Carl help Beth and your mom get Hershel back inside," I instructed going to the bottom of the steps.

"Jewels…" Lori said.

"Lori! Go!" I said, looking her straight in the eyes, before turning back to the walkers.

"Lori! Here!" I heard Maggie yell for her, "Jewels, come on!"

"You go ahead!" I yelled to her. I then started running towards another door that led to a cell block in the opposite direction of ours. "Hey, ya smelly bastards! This way!"

The walkers turned towards me and started moving towards me.

"Jewels! No!" Daryl yelled, from the other side of the gate.

I continued to kill the walkers until they got to close and then I slipped into the prison. Walking in I don't think anyone had been there yet…it was dark and there were still bodies littering the corridor. Making sure to stab each body in the head as I moved through the corridor as a precaution I started to make my way towards a brighter area.

_GROOOOOOOOOWL_

I looked over my shoulder in to the other hallway and saw a large group of walkers, just standing there…looking at me.

"Oh shit," I said, before taking off down the hall, shuffling footsteps behind me.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	38. Gran's Advice

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

I ran down the corridor with the walkers close on my heels. At that point I had no idea where I was headed except for…the hell out of there. I never realized how large a prison really was until that moment, running from walkers and trying to find a safe place to hide, or just get back to the others.

I soon found myself in the "employee wing" of the prison. I ran into the locker room and shut the door behind me, using a metal bar that was on the floor to keep the door shut. There were only a couple of walkers in the room, so they were easily taken care of, but now the thing that I needed to do. Was wait…

DARYL'S POV

"JEWELS!" I yelled, tryin' to go after her only to have Rick pull me back.

"You can't get through that way!" he yelled.

"I have to go after her, man!" I yelled back.

"She'll find a way to get back to C Block, but you can't get through that group of walkers, we have to go another way! She'll be fine!" he said.

"You don't know that!" I snapped.

"We have to go another way!" he snapped back.

We argued but fought through the walkers goin' a different way from the one that Jewels had gone. I had to get to her, but I knew it a sick way that Rick was right. I would never get through that group of walkers…

JEWELS'S POV

I began to pace around the locker room. Waiting for the sounds of the walkers to die down wasn't going to get me anywhere so I looked around to see if I could find a way a way out. Walking into the shower area of the locker room I saw the ventilation system, grabbing a metal bar and climbing up onto the bench I pried it open. Next, was the task of actually getting IN to the ventilation system.

"Brilliant, Julianne," I said, stacking one bench on another, "Always thinking ahead of your height." Finally getting the benches and other random shit stacked I began to climb up into the system. Just as got into the system everything that I had been climbing on, crashed down to the floor and I looked down. "Well I ain't goin' back that way…"

I started to make my way through the ventilation system using what little light was coming through to see.

"OW!" I said, as my head slammed right into side of the ventilation shaft, "Son of bitch, that hurt!" After more of me running into the walls of the ventilation shaft I just stopped and laid down. It was near impossible to see, and it was sweltering hot in there. _'I just need to rest,'_ I thought, laying down, _'Just a little rest.'_

DREAM

"Julianne…Julianne…come on my little mischief maker…it's time to get up…"

My eyes slowly opened and I was staring up at a familiar paneled ceiling. "Gran?" I questioned, listening for the voice again.

"Now sugar, I don't know why you always insisted on takin' your naps on the floor, but if I got one thing out of havin' your mama, it's that you keep yourself in a comfy bed when you need a nap…" I felt a comforting hand go under my head, gently lifting it up, before setting it back down on a pillow before I was met by a pair a blue eyes. "Bein' pregnant, you shouldn't be runnin' around in the dirt and lyin' on hard floors…baby, you should be restin'."

"It ain't that simple Gran," I whispered, "I ain't even sure if I'm really-."

She gently placed her fingers on my lips to shush me, before moving her hand to the side of my face. "A woman knows her body…and I know that you know that you are. And baby girl, you are goin' to make a wonderful mother."

"You don't understand Gran, the world…the way it is now, it ain't no place for a baby," I said, tears starting to cloud my eyes, "And we're going to have Lori's baby to take care of, and that's been a chore just to get her to safety…I don't even know if Lori is safe and-."

"Shh…shhh. Sweetie, no matter what sort of world it is, a mother _will_ defend its child from the monsters in it, something I was never able to do when it came to tryin' to protect Annabelle from your father. My little girl never had a chance because I didn't protect her, and then she didn't protect you. But you…you are a strong, beautiful woman who even after all she's been through…has still found love, an odd type of family I guess you would call it…"

"They are odd aren't they?" I asked, sniffing back tears.

"Not only will you protect that baby, but that man of yours…"

"Daryl."

"Daryl…he'll take care of you," she said, wiping my tears away, "You found yourself a fine man."

"Only you would call a foul-mouthed, crossbow wielding redneck, a "fine man"," I said.

Moved some hair away from my face. "Does he take care of you?"

"Yes."

"Does he hit you?"

"Never."

"Does he love you?"

"Yes."

"Do you love him?"

"More than anythin'."

"Then that's all that matters to me," she said smiling, "You're happy, even in times like these…you're happy. That's what matters to me…now baby girl, I need you to wake up."

I quickly grabbed her hand. "If this is a dream then I don't want to wake up…I need your help, I don't know nothin' about raisin' a baby, all I know is what I know from Monica raisin' the twins."

"Sweetie…everythin' will come to you. As a mom, everything will come to you naturally…just trust your instincts," she said, "But you need to wake up, you need to wake up and find your friends and find that man of yours." She leaned down and kissed my forehead and I closed my eyes.

END OF DREAM

_Squeak squeak_

Opening my eyes I felt something crawling over me. It was a rat…a big, fat, hairy…rat. I screamed and started flailing around trying to get the rat away from me but stop when I heard creaking beneath me.

"Shit…" I said, before the underside of the ventilation system gave way, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hanging from the ventilation shaft I was having to kick away walkers.

Thankfully though, someone came to my rescue and started hacking away the walkers. Once they were all gone it was Rick who held up his arms.

"Go ahead and let go, Jewels…I'll catch ya," he said. I nodded and let go of the ventilation shaft and he caught me. "Take a right and follow the corridor back to C Block…he said before walking off."

"Rick, wait!" I called after him as he walked off, something was clearly wrong…but he didn't want to talk about it. I followed his directions and ended up in the corridor heading towards C Block. As I got closer I heard a baby crying.

My feet began to move faster and see I ended up at C Block's cell door and saw Beth holding a baby.

"Jewels…" Glenn said, being the first one to see me.

"Where's Lori?" I questioned, not seeing her. Carl looked down at the ground.

"Are you bit?" Glenn asked, walking over to the door.

"No…" I whispered, "Where's Daryl?"

"Him and Maggie went to town to find some formula," he replied, opening the door.

'_He…just left? Without coming to look for me?'_ I thought.

Glenn saw the look on my face and frowned. "He knew you were gonna find your way back here somehow, but him and Maggie had to go get that formula."

I nodded and went and sat on the stairs and put my head in my hands. _'Lori…I'm so sorry…'_

For hours I just sat there; occasionally I would look down at Beth who was still holding the baby. I couldn't come up with the nerve to go down and hold the baby. A couple of time Beth had asked me if I wanted to, but I just shook my head…I couldn't. Soon footsteps were heard running into the now dark prison and Maggie and Daryl came running in. They did even notice me at first because the first priority was getting the baby some food.

"How's she doing?" he asked, as Beth handed over a fussy baby to help Maggie with the formula, "Shh…shh…come on." The baby stopped her crying and I gave a small smile. "She got a name yet?"

"Not yet," Carl replied, "But I was thinking…maybe Sophia. Then there's Carol, too. And…" He stopped and sighed. "Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Or…Lori. I don't know."

"You like that?" Daryl asked, looking at the little one, "Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh?" The baby cooed and looked up at him. "You like that, sweetheart? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh?"

Everybody laughed and he handed the baby Carl before turning away.

"That's a good look for you," I said.

His head shot up and he looked straight up at me before running up the stairs and practically pushing me back into the floor. "I. Was. So. Worried," he said in between kisses.

"I'm fine," I said as I pushed him back.

"Don't ya ever…_ever_ do somethin' that stupid again, ya hear me?" he growled, "Going off by yourself like that….what the hell were ya thinkin'."

I rested my head on his shoulders and sighed. "I was trying to keep Lori safe…"

He pulled away from me and looked me dead in the eyes. "And ya did…Lori died during child birth," he said sadly, "You kept the walkers away but…." He looked down at the little one before looking back at me. "You did what you could."

"Yeah…" I said, before giving him a long kiss.

"Why don't ya get yourself cleaned up a bit and then go take a nap…ya look like someone beat you instead of the walkers," he said.

I nodded and he helped me up and I went to the cell that house a bucket of water that we all used for rag rinsing purposes. During my cleaning Maggie walked into the cell and looked at me.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine," I said, "Are you…you were with Lori, right?"

She looked away. "I…I almost couldn't do it…do the c-section. But she begged me…"

I nodded. "A mother protects her child and Lori's way was giving up her own life for the baby's."

"I…I guess," she said, "That sure as hell don't make it any easier."

She started to leave and I caught her just before she made it to the stairs. "I know you and Daryl went to find that formula, but are you and Glenn still makin' that run?"

"If ya need tampons, I can get them for ya," she said, "Just tell me what you need and I'll do the best I can."

"Mags…this is a little more personal than my period and that was a lie to Daryl…"

"If it's something more personal I can still get it, I'm mean I'm still a woman too and I won't show Glenn anything that I get you."

"Mags…"

"What?"

"I uh…how do I put this…I need to go with you because I need something to prove something to myself that Glenn wasn't able to keep his mouth shut about before that is relevant to the situation that we are currently in right now…"

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

I sighed then pointed down to the baby before pointing at my own stomach and shrugging. Her eyes got wide and she took a step back.

"You can be preg-," she went to say, but I covered her mouth and pulled her back into the cell we had just been in.

"We need to stay calm…and stay quiet," I told her, "Can you do that?" She nodded and I let go of her and she looked at me. "Don't look at me that way…it's not like I was expecting this…."

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

_**Jewels: Yes, this is an odd place to leave it off, but I'm leaving it off there and that's final! **_


	39. Cold Hearted Bastard

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Maggie stood staring at me in disbelief and horror. "How could this have even happened? In the last couple of months we've all been so crammed into small room or on the move you and Daryl haven't had time to have sex…everyone would have known if you had."

"Thanks for that…" I said, rolling my eyes, "And _actually_, if you must know…there was that run me and him took by ourselves…."

"You've got to be fuckin' kidding me," she said.

"It wasn't planned, I assure you that…" I said, "Not in the slightest."

FLASHBACK

Daryl and I had broken off from the group to go to the nearest town and try and find some food. We were living more on what we could scavenge more than what we could hunt, what with all the walkers around. It was hard trying to skin and gut something when there's a heard in each and every direction. So for now it was searching store after store for any type of canned food we could possibly find.

The store we were in was just about stark bare of any food except for a couple of cans tossed here and there, forgotten in the chaos of the world.

"Find anythin' interestin'?" Daryl asked, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"The only thing interestin' in this place seems to have found me," I said.

With a small chuckle he turned me around and pressed me up against the wall. Now trapped between that and his muscular body I could see the lust in his eyes.

"Is there something I can help you with?" I teased, grinding my hips against his. It had been a good month and a half since me and him had had ANY alone time. We had only managed to find houses that were one story or that we all needed to stay in close proximity to each other, or we were sleeping in the cars. It any good ANY type of sexual activity and a month and a half might not seem like long to some, but when you have the man that is currently standing in from of me.

"Don't give me those eyes and then ask if there's anythin' you can help me with," he said, "You know damn well there is."

"Do I now?" I continued to tease.

His hands moved from my hips to the front of my jeans and he began to undo them. "I think you do…" he growled.

I barely remember the rest of the clothes being strewn around the area…I remember was Daryl pushing into me as he held me up against the wall, my legs wrapped around his waist…

END OF FLASHBACK

"For the love of god…I'm duct taping your legs closed," Maggie said, as I told her _without_ great detail the last time I was able to have sex with Daryl.

"Well…if you could see that man naked, which ya ain't ever gonna…you would want him naked as much as possible too," I said.

She covered her face with her hands. "I can't do this Jewels…what if, what if something happens like with Lori…I can't go through that again, I just can't."

I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me. "Mags…If a pregnancy test comes up positive, then I can assure you I won't be needed a c-section…the Montgomery (my mother's side) women and the Taylor women have birthin' hips…no need for that kinda stuff."

She look down at my hips at then back up. "Are ya sure?"

"Positive…from what I understand the only c-sections in my family were voluntary," I assured her, "My gran always teased me about how I'd be a good baby maker cause of these birthin' hips…trust me okay? But…I have to be sure."

She nodded. "We're going on the run tomorrow."

"Okay," I said, "Thank you."

THE NEXT DAY

"Are you sure you want to be goin'?" Daryl asked, "You had a rough day yesterday and-"

"I'll be fine," I said, "Just need to get what I need, that's all."

He nodded and kissed my forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too," I said, before getting in the car along with Maggie and Glenn.

It wasn't a long drive to the small town that Maggie and Glenn had found in the phone book in the prison and thankfully as well, it wasn't hit hard by other survivors. In fact the small store in town was mostly in tact so the supply of formula and canned goods would last us a good while.

I gave Maggie a look and she nodded and I went over and looked for a pregnancy test. Thankfully there were several left so I grabbed one and excused myself to go take a piss, because in all reality I did need to pee because I hadn't for hours just to save up for this moment.

This…was the most nerve wracking moment of my life. I don't think even waiting for the results of the pastry competition that I entered in college was this intense.

A couple minutes later…my life was changed forever more than it was when walkers started appearing. It was positive…I was scared, but I was also…excited. I had always wanted to be a mom, but not like this. Not in a world like this…

I threw the pregnancy test back in the box and threw it in my bag and rounded the corner to come across something, or someone I thought I would never see again and never hoped to.

"Merle?" I asked.

Maggie and Glenn were holding their weapons towards him, but I hadn't bothered to raise my bow at that point. I was dumbfounded.

"Well, well, well, if it ain't sweet Miss Julianne," he said, looking me up and down, "Ain't you a sight for sore eyes."

"You can keep your sore eyes to yourself," I sneered.

"That feisty attitude why my baby brother liked you so much?" he questioned, "Speaking of which, this boy over here, tell me my brother is still alive…that true?"

I nodded. I may hate Merle, but he was Daryl's brother, and I wasn't going to keep whether or not Daryl was alive from him…that wouldn't be fair.

"Hey, how about this? Y'all take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up there in Atlanta. No hard feelings. Huh?" he questioned.

"We'll tell Daryl you're here and he'll come out to meet you," Glenn said.

"Hold on, just hold up," Merle said taking a step towards Glenn.

"Don't take another step," I said, quickly holding up my bow.

"Hold up here. Hold up," he said, trying to keep the situation as calm as Merle could possibly manage, "Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on, now. You can trust me."

"You trust us. You stay here," Glenn said.

"No!" Merle yelled, before pulling out a gun and firing a shot and running towards Maggie and Glenn.

"Run!" I yelled at them, "Shit." I ran around the other side of the car next to where Glenn was standing completely frozen. Merle had gun to Maggie's head.

"Merle…let her go," I said, "We can talk about this, just let her go."

"Put your weapons in the car!" he snapped, pressing the barrel of the gun against Maggie's temple. Glenn and I did as we were told and set our weapons in the back of the car. "Now we're gonna take a little drive…"

"We're not going back to our camp," Glenn managed to get out.

"No, we're going somewhere else," he said standing up, dragging Maggie with him, "Get in the car; Glenn! You're driving! Move!"

We got in the car and I kept looking back at Maggie through the review mirror as Merle directed Glenn on where to go. Soon we were at some type of warehouse where we were pulled out of the car by some other men and separated from each other.

Sitting there in the echoing building was horrible. I could tell Glenn was on the other side of the wall from me; I could hear every word as Merle taunted him and tried to get information from him. Glenn was a tougher dude then Merle would ever give him credit for though, and in order to protect the others he would die…we all would. After what sounded like a horrible beating, Merle walked into the room, my bow over his shoulder and my backpack in his hand.

Carelessly throwing my bow to the side he walked over and dumped the contents of the bag onto the table in front of me. "It's rude goin' through a lady's things," I commented.

"Good thing I ain't acusin' ya of being a lady," he said, "I have to say you're the first woman who's had a bag that wasn't ungodly to go through…huntin' knife, 9 mil, 'suppose this box of condoms is for my baby brother...but this is the thing that got me." He held up the pregnancy test and turned it over so the tester dropped out and bounced on the table. "My baby brother knock you up?"

"He didn't 'knock me up'," I said sourly, "I had sex with the man that I love and…yes I'm pregnant."

"Well then sweetheart…why don't you just tell me where he is and I can go give him a big congratulations," he said. I opened and closed my mouth a few times and looked away him. He began to chuckle at this. "Ooo would you look at this…ain't so tough are we now, hmm?" he questioned tapping the underside of my chin with the knife that was strapped to him stump of an arm, "You ain't even told him have ya?"

"What the hell do you want Merle?" I questioned.

"I just want to know where Daryl is," he replied, "And if ya tell me, you, Glenn, and the farmer's daughter walk right outta here. I promise I ain't gonna hurt no on at your camp."

'_Does he think I'm stupid or something?'_ I thought. "Really?" I questioned, trying my best to play the sweet and innocent part.

"Of course," he said, "We want the same thing. To see Daryl…you're a tough one, but you must be scared without your man here to protect ya."

"A…a little…yeah," I said, "I mean…I do depend on him a lot."

"I don't doubt of it," he remarked, "Pretty thing like you, must not only be the target of walkers, hmm? Dangerous men out there in the world…."

'_Like yourself?' _I thought. "Daryl takes good care of me," I said, "Don't know what I'd do without him."

"And that's why you and I should be on the same page here, darlin'," he said, "Forget about all the shit that happened in the past. You and me…hell we're practically family now…" I had to refrain from gagging at that point and just let him continue inflating his own ego. "The one common bond that we have is Daryl and if you take me to him, we can all be one big happy family."

"You _promise_ you won't hurt anyone else?" I questioned, giving my best 'I'm so naïve it's cute' look.

"Oh of course, sweetheart," he said, a smirk appearing on his face, "Just tell me where Daryl is and all will be good."

I leaned in close to him. "I can't really _tell _you cause the others will hear…do you have a map, I'll show you." He pulled a map out of his shirt pocket and after dumping my belongings back into my backpack he set the map on the table. "Um…Merle…" I wiggled my fingers reminding him that my wrists were still duct taped to the chair and his lips slightly curled.

"Don't…get any bright ideas," he said, cutting the tape off.

"I just want to help…remember," I said, standing up and scanning the map pretending to be looking for our camp, "Our camp should be right around…" He got closer so that he could hear me better and that's when I quickly grabbed him by the front of the shirt and kneed him in the stomach. "You can kiss my lily white ass…" I knocked him to the ground and went to run past him but he grabbed my ankle.

"Stupid bitch!" he snarled, pulling me to the ground.

"Let go of me!" I yelled.

"It women like you who need to be knocked around a bit to be put in line," he said, "Something that Darylina doesn't have the balls to do." He hit me a couple of times on the side of the head with the metal the covered the stump of his arm and my vision became blurry.

Holding me down so that my stomach was against the hard concrete floor I heard his belt rattle around and was more than concerned. Fear turned to numbness though when he ripped my shirt open exposing my back.

I relaxed my body waiting for that familiar sting, but it never came. I felt Merle stand up and I looked out of the corner of my eye at him. "Well, what are you waiting for? Thought you were gonna teach me a lesson," I said coldly.

"Seems like someone already tried to," he said, lowly.

"Yeah…and you're as cold hearted as the bastard who did this to me!" I snapped.

He grabbed my hair pulling me up to my feet. "I don't suggest you do anything that stupid again…hate to break my baby brother's heart because I had to through you to the walkers, hmm?"

I just glared at him and he threw me back to the ground before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Bastard!" I yelled.

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	40. Monica

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

Holding my now torn shirt against the wound on my head, I leaned back against the wall cradling my bow for some last sense of comfort. My vision was blurry, and the concussion that I knew I had were making me feel…lost somehow.

"I'm gonna die here," I said, looking around the blood splattered room. Newer blood, dry blood, hell I don't even know what kind of blood, but it was blood on the walls…

"I brought the food that you asked for, Governor," I heard a familiar voice say.

I stood up and continued to listen. _'Monica?'_ I felt my way towards the door, my vision at that moment doing nothing for trying not to bump into things.

"I did a recheck in the stock room just like you asked and all is good with the food for now, but I did make a list and put it on your desk," the voice said again.

"Thank you, just put our food there and we can handle it from here," an unfamiliar male voice said.

MERLE'S POV

"They know where your brother is?" the Gov asked as the Latina chick set the food down on the table in front of us.

"Yeah, but they ain't talkin'…yet," I said with a shrug, "I'm sure I'll get that girl of his to crack though…sweet little Miss Julianne, a fire cracker but a sucker for a Dixon. She'll tell me where he's at."

"What did you say?" the Latina chick said, turning and walking back from the door, "Julianne? Did you just say Julianne?"

"What's it to you?!" I snapped.

She grabbed my shirt and pulled me down so that I was eye level with her. She had the same fire in her brown eyes that shown in the blue eyes of that damn girl in the other room. "What's her last name?" she asked.

My brain went blank but then tried to remember all the information about Julianne that Daryl had told me about her the first time I had met her. "Um…um…um…Tyler….Taylor…somethin' like that," I replied.

She let me go and turned to the Governor. "I need to see her…Julianne Taylor, that's the girl I was tellin' y'all about…that's my best friend!"

"Monica…you're a great deal of help to all of us here, but I don't think this is the girl that you-" the Gov started, but got cut off.

"You have to let me see! She's like a sister to me! She's the godmother to my boys!"

The gov looked at her for a couple of minutes and then gave a slow nod. "Fine…Merle, take Monica to her…"

I nodded and then led the Latina down to sugar tits.

JEWELS' POV

'_I heard her…'_ I thought, laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. I heard the metal door open but I didn't bother looking over. "Touch me again Merle and you'll find your nuts kicked so far up your throat you'll be giving yourself your own personal chug and tug."

"It is her," I heard before seeing a woman leaning over me.

"I knew I heard you," I said seeing Monica's big brown eyes staring down at me.

"You don't know how much I've missed you," she said, pulling me up into a hug, "Dios mío…what happened to your head."

"Ask the rat bastard behind," I said.

"Well now, that ain't any way to treat family," Merle chimed.

"Family?" she spat with slight disgust, "She's prettier than you'd ever be, you ugly son of a bitch. You ain't no family of hers."

I grabbed her arm to stop her before she could fully put her leg in her mouth in a fashion that only Monica could perform. "I met a guy…" I started, but could get anything else out she got an excited look in her eyes.

"You met a guy?"

I nodded. "Tried to kill him…"

"First impressions were always your strong suit."

"He took me back to his camp and I met some amazing people. His name is Daryl…sadly he's that sorry son of a bitch's brother. But he's an amazing man…you'd love him."

"I'm so happy for you." I just stared up at her and she moved some hair out of my eyes. "What is it?"

"My baby brother knocked sugar tits here up…and she hasn't told him," Merle said.

"Julianne….are you pregnant?" she questioned. I nodded and she smiled. "You always wanted to be a mama…you'll do just fine."

Merle made a gagging noise and tried to pull Monica away from me. "I think it's time for you to go sweetheart."

"Get your hands off of me!" she yelled, kicking Merle right in the nuts.

"Ha! Hell on wheels!" I said, "And you thought I was bad! Oh, my head…"

She came back over and held onto me and a new man entered the room. Unlike Merle though, he had a sort of authority to him. "Monica…your boys need you. I think you should go now."

"You bring them here," she said, "I'm not leaving her again."

The man looked down at me and Monica; he had an imposing air to him, but Monica, was unmoving. She was a rock, she always had been, and in that moment I don't think even god himself could have removed me from her grasp. And that man, he thought he was god.

"Fine…you made your choice when you came in this room anyway," the man said. Him and Merle left the room, door closing with a bang.

We sat back against the wall leaning against each other in the silent room. "Tell me more about him…" she said softly.

"Who?" I asked, my head still throbbing.

"This Daryl guy," she replied.

"My foul-mouthed rough and tumble, kick ass, sweetheart when he wants to be redneck?" I questioned, "He's everything I could ever ask for in a man and more."

"I don't see a ring," she said.

"Don't know if he's the marrying type," I replied, "He ain't Mitch who was all over the chance to marry you."

"Mitch is dead…"

"What?" I asked.

"Through himself to the walkers to save me and the boys…."

"He always was your knight in shining armor."

"Yeah, he was…"

The door reopened and the imposing man walked back in. "There's your mama boys."

"Mama!" I heard as two identical twin boys rushed into the room towards Monica, but then changed direction once they saw me, "AUNTIE JULIANNE!" I was tackled and all I could do was pull the boys close.

"Taylor, Abel," I said, "I missed you so much."

The door slammed causing us all to jump. "What's gonna happen now?" Monica asked.

There was yelling from the next room. "Merle's going after Glenn again," I said.

After what sounded like struggling from the other room it got silent again before the door ONCE AGAIN opened and a couple of different men grabbed us and dragged us out of the room.

"Maggie are you all right?" I asked, seeing she was topless.

"I'm fine," she said as we were shoved into a room with a very bloodied Glenn.

"We're through with games," the imposing one said, "Now one of you is gonna give up your camp." He pointed the gun at Glenn and Maggie jumped.

"The prison," she said, quickly.

"Maggie…" I whispered, though I didn't blame her at all.

"The one near Nunez? That place is overrun…" the man said.

"We took it," she said.

"How many are you?" he questioned.

"11…we have 11 now," she replied.

"11 people cleared that whole prison of biters?" he asked. We just nodded nervously and the men left us in the room.

"Auntie Julianne…what's gonna happen?" Abel asked, pulling on my hand.

"We're gonna do what we always do sweetie," I said, "Survive…"

_TO BE CONTINUED…4_


	41. I Never Needed Ya!

_**Jewels: HAPPY NEW YEAR! As always, I do not own The Walking Dead…**_

**Translations (please feel free to correct me if you are fluent in Spanish and I may have misspelled something, I am using google translator and you know that isn't always accurate):**

**Cariño - sweetie**

It was quiet in the room except for Maggie and Glenn whispering to each other. Monica and I on the other hand sat quietly with the twins between us.

"You have to stay awake, cariño," she said, reaching out and nudging me as she saw my eyelids get heavy, "You might have a concussion."

"I'm tired," I argued, half-assed.

"I know…" she said, "But you got to stay awake. Oh good lord." I didn't even notice that Glenn had stood up and began to rip off the arm of the walker he had taken down earlier until she reacted to it. She then looked at me. "Please tell me it's the concussion that's makin' you not react to that."

"Seen worse," I whispered.

It wasn't long before some men came in to get us and Glenn and Maggie began to fight using pieces of walker arm bone.

Merle came barreling in to join the fight but Maggie held up a gun to him that she had grabbed from one of the men. "Okay…" he dropped his gun only to have more men come into the room, "Give me the gun!" He snatched the gun from Maggie and the men grabbed her and Glenn. "Glad we could catch up," he said to Glenn. He then turned to me, Monica, and the boys.

We were literally thrown out of the room and being unsteady on my feet at the moment I fell to the ground. But when I looked up I saw a pair of baby blue eyes behind a crossbow lookin' around the corner.

"Daryl…" I breathed.

He put a finger to his lips and signaled for me to cover my eyes and ears.

I nodded and grabbed…hell I grabbed one of the twins, putting whichever one he was under me and covering my ears. Monica, seeing what I was doing, did the same and the next thing we knew there were flashbangs being thrown into the room and then being dragged from the floor. Soon we were running through the streets of a town.

"Inside, quick!" Rick said, ushering us into a building.

"Ain't no way out back here," Daryl said, after checking the back. He then stopped and cocked his head at the new additions to the group. "You're…Monica…" he said, thinking to the night he sat with me in the truck and looked at my photo album.

"Is that him?" she asked. I could just hear the coy smile that was playing in her tone.

The room was spinning at that point and I tried to look in his direction. "I don't know. He killer baby blues, a goatee with a cocky smirk behind it, a crossbow, look like a redneck and smell like a redneck."

"You didn't mention sexy," she said.

"Yeah…that's him," I said.

"I take offense to your last comment, Jewels," he said.

"I love the smell of redneck in the morning…don't worry," I said.

"Oooh," she teased.

"Rick, how did you find us?" Maggie said, interrupting us.

"How bad are you guys hurt?" he asked.

"I'll be all right," Glenn said.

"I'll be…for the love of god why are there three of you," I said, looking in Rick's general direction.

"I think she has a concussion," Monica said.

"Will Auntie be all right, mama?" one of the twins asked.

"Course she will little man," Daryl said, "Nothin' can keep your Auntie down for long."

"I'm sure," Monica teased.

"Stop," I said.

"Nope," she argued.

"Daryl, this was Merle. He did this," Glenn said.

"You saw him?" Rick asked.

"Face to face," Glenn replied, "Threw a walker at me. He was gonna execute us. Looks like he did a number on Jewels."

"I'm fine…Daryl for god sake, quit moving," I said.

"S-so my brother's this governor?" he asked.

Monica let out a laugh and the twins just giggled. "You're kidding right? Merle…the governor? He got more brains cells in that nut sack of his then his noggin', he ain't runnin' this place."

"Oh, I missed you so," I said.

"It's the truth," she said.

"Your brother's his lieutenant or something," Maggie said.

"Does he know I'm still with you?" he asked.

"He does now," Glenn replied, "Rick, I'm sorry. We told him where the prison was. We couldn't hold out."

"Don't," Rick said, "No need to apologize."

"They're gonna be looking for us," Maggie said.

"We have to get back," he said, "Glenn, can you walk? We got a car a few miles out."

"I'm good," he said.

"Jewels?" he questioned.

"She's unsteady on her feet," Monica replied, "But I can help her and the twins are fast on their feet."

"All right," he said.

"Hey, if Merle's around, I need to see him," Daryl said.

"Please…don't be an idiot," I said, not meaning for it to come out as gruffly as it did.

"He's my brother, Jewels," he said.

"Not now," Rick agreed, "We're in hostile territory."

"He's my brother. I ain't-," he started.

"Look at what he did!" Rick snapped lowly, cutting him off, "Look, we gotta…we gotta get out of here now."

"Maybe I can talk to him," he argued, "Maybe I can work something out."

"No, no, no. You're not thinking straight. Look, no matter what they say, they're hurt…Glenn and Jewels can barely walk. How are we gonna make it out if we get overrun by walkers and this governor catches up to us? I need you. Are you with me?" Rick questioned.

"Yeah," Daryl said, not happy with his own answer.

"On three. Stay tight. One, two, three," Rick said.

Daryl threw flashbangs and we ran out of the building towards the perimeter of the town.

"Go! Get cover! Get there. Go, go, go!" Rick said, as he led us towards the entryway of a building, "Any grenades left?"

"Uh-huh," Daryl replied.

"Get 'em ready. We gotta run to the wall," Rick said.

I felt a pair a hands grip my pants. "Who's got my leg?"

"Taylor…" replied the small voice, "Auntie, I'm scared."

"It's okay, sweetie," I said, "Remember how…how scared Marlin was when he set…when he set out to find Nemo."

"Yeah," he replied.

"But what did he do?" I asked, feeling light headed.

"He made a new friend and just kept swimming," he replied.

"Exactly," I said, "So…so we're just gonna keep…keep swimming."

"Okay…" he said.

"I'm gonna lay down some cover fire," Daryl said.

"No, we gotta stay together," Maggie said.

"Daryl, don't leave…" I said.

"Too hairy," he said, "I'll be right behind you." He leaned over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I promise…"

I gave a nod and we headed to the wall Daryl covering us. I manage to get over the wall, practically being pushed over to the other side by Monica and landing ungracefully on the other side. "Sorry…" she said, helping me up.

"No…worries," I said as we followed Rick down a small trail and hid behind a car.

"Good job, boys," I said, to the twins, "You kept swimming…where's…where's Daryl?"

A figure that I didn't recognize showed up and Rick and Maggie pointed their guns at her. "Where the hell were you?" he asked, "Put your hands up. Turn around. Turn around. Get what you came for?"

"Where are the rest of your people?" she asked.

"They got Oscar," Maggie replied.

"Daryl is missing," Rick said.

"We have to go find him…" I said, trying to stand only to get pulled back up.

"You can't see straight and you are in no condition concussion and otherwise to go back in there," Maggie said.

"But Daryl he-," I started.

"He'll get back to you…he always does," she replied.

"I brought you here to save them," the woman said.

"Thanks for the help," Rick stated almost sarcastically.

"You'll need help to get them back to the prison or to go back in there for Daryl," she said, "Either way, you need me."

Rick began to lay out a plan to get Daryl out of what we now knew to be Woodbury and Glenn, Monica, the twin, me, and the woman whose name I learned was Michonne made our way to the car.

"Feeling any better?" Monica asked, as she sat in the back of the car with me, washing the wound on my head with water from a bottle she had found in the back of the car, along with a cloth.

"Ain't three of you now if that's what you're wonderin'," I replied.

"Your people gonna be okay with me and the boys coming back with you?" she questioned.

""They'll have to deal with it…we lost each other once, ain't happenin' again," I said, "Seems you're safer with us, than that place anyway…what were you doing there anyway?"

"After Mitch died, it was tough for me and the boys. We scavenged for food, I had to kill walkers right in front of them…they even killed a couple. 7 year olds shouldn't have to do that," she said sadly, "I was down to my last marble so to speak. Last bullet too…the governor…Merle…they found us while they were on a run. They took us in and I did most of the cooking for the group. Can't say I ever really liked it there, but there were walls, food, shelter, other people…"

"The prison we're at, it ain't perfect, but we got plans for it," I said, "Plow the fields, make it more comfortable, and continue to clean it up. It's got its fences, walls…safe for the most part…got a lot of work still."

She smiled. "I'm sure it will work just fine."

We heard shouting from outside the car and saw that the others were back…along with Merle.

DARYL'S POV

"Hey, hey, hey! Hey, put it down!" I told Michonne who had her sword raised at Merle.

"He tried to kill me! If it wasn't for him-," she started.

"He helped us get out of there," I said, cutting her off.

"Yeah, right after he beat the shit out of you," Rick remarked.

"Hey, we both took our licks, man," Merle said.

I looked over at him. "Jackass."

"Enough!" Rick said, as everyone started yelling again, "Hey, hey, relax! Put that down now!"

"Get that thing out of my face!" I told Glenn, who had his gun pointed at Merle, but I was between them.

"Man, looks like you've gone native, brother," Merle said.

"No more than you hangin' out with that psycho back there," I said.

"Oh, yeah, man. He is a charmer, I got to tell you that," he said, "Been puttin' the wood to Andrea. Big time, baby."

"What?" Glenn asked, "Andrea's in Woodbury?"

"Right next to the governor," Rick replied before turning to Michonne who once again raised her sword, "I told you to drop that! You know Andrea? Hey, do you know Andrea?"

"Yep, she does," Merle replied for her, "Her and blondie spent all winter cuddling up in the forest. Mmm-mmm-mmm. Yeah. My Nubian queen here had two pet walkers. No arms, cut of the jaws, kept them in chains. Kind of ironic now that I think about it."

"Shut up, bro," I said.

"Hey, man, we snagged them out of the woods," he said, "Andrea was close to dying."

"Is that why she's with him?" Glenn questioned.

"Yeah. Snug as two little bugs," he replied before looking at Rick, "So what you gonna do now, Sheriff, huh? Surrounded by a bunch of liars, thugs, and cowards."

"Shut up!" Rick snapped.

"Oh, man, look at this," he taunted, "Pathetic. All these guns and no bullets in them."

"Merle, shut up!" I snapped. He wasn't going to be winning any fans if he kept this shit up.

"Shut up yourself! Bunch of pussies you roll-," he was cut off when Rick knocked him out with the handle of his knife.

"Asshole," he mumbled.

Maggie, Glenn, and I stepped into the road and began to discuss what we were going to do with Merle. One thing was for sure, I wasn't gonna lose my brother again…

MAGGIE'S POV

"Look, the Governor is probably on the way to the prison right now," Daryl said, "Merle knows how he thinks and we could use the muscle."

"I'm not having him at the prison," I said.

"Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth…or Jewels?" Glenn questioned.

"He ain't a rapist," Daryl said, but then immediately looked like he regretted saying that.

"Well, his buddy is," Glenn said.

'_I told you he didn't do anything!'_ I wanted to scream.

"They ain't buddies no more," Daryl argued, "Not after last night."

"There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats," Rick said.

"So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" he asked, pointing over at Michonne who was leaning against the car.

"She's not coming back," Rick said.

"She's not in a state to be on her own," I said.

"She did bring you guys to us," Glenn agreed.

"And then ditched us…" Rick said.

"At least let my dad stitch her up," I tried to reason.

"She's too unpredictable," he said.

"That's right," Daryl said, "We don't know who she is. But Merle, Merle's blood."

"No, Merle is your blood," Glenn said, "My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison."

"And you're part of that family," Rick agreed, "But he's not…he's not."

"Man, y'all don't know…" Daryl said, kicking the dirt, "Fine. We'll fend for ourselves."

"That's not what I was saying," Glenn said.

"No him, no me," he said.

"Daryl, you don't have to do that," I said, before looking at the car and seeing Jewels looking out towards us, "What about Jewels?"

"It was always Merle and I before this," he said.

"Don't," I said, "Jewels…"

"She…she…" he started, but headed towards the car.

JEWELS' POV

"Something's wrong," I said, seeing the look on Daryl's face as he walked back towards the car. As he opened the trunk I looked over at him and he and Rick were talking in hushed voices. "Daryl?" I questioned.

He didn't look at me and just closed the trunk without saying a word and headed towards Merle.

"No," I said, pushing the door open.

"Julianne, be careful," Monica said as I stumbled out of the car.

"Daryl!" I yelled, starting to run (kinda) after him. I grabbed his arm. "What's…what's going on?"

"Can't stay with a bunch of people who don't understand the meaning of family," he said.

"And you were just gonna walk away without saying anything?" I questioned.

He gave me a cold look. "You think just like the rest of 'em. You don't want Merle here…he's my brother, my family."

"What about me?" I questioned, "You told me that you would protect me…you told me that you loved me. Does that even mean a fuckin' thing to you?"

"I…I do love you Jewels," he said, "But you still ain't blood." He turned and started to walk away with Merle who had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"Fine! Go! I never needed ya anyway!" I yelled, picking up rocks and throwing them at him as he walked away, "We don't need ya! You stupid, fuckin', no good redneck!" Feeling light headed again, I feel to the ground. "I never needed ya anyway…"

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	42. Y'all Have No Right To Be Angry!

_**Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead.**_

_**Note: Hey peeps! Just so you know there is a poll going on on my profile page. Please go check it out and vote! Thank you!**_

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><p>On the way back towards the prison I sat with my head pressed against the window. I could feel Monica's eyes on me, knowing she was worried about what just happened, but I didn't look back at her. The one man that I had opened my heart to, told me he loved me…but ditched me in the middle of the woods for his asshole junkie brother who beat the crap out of me.<p>

I pulled the blanket from the back of the car closer around me, still shirtless the cold of the morning was getting to me. As the car came to a stop in front of a truck that was blocking the path, Rick, Maggie, and Glenn got out of the car to move it out of the way.

From the car you could hear them arguing and I heard something about Daryl and I opened the car door and stepped out of the car.

"After all that effort, all the risk we took, Daryl just takes off with Merle?" Glenn questioned.

"Well, he had his reasons," Rick said, calmly to the agitated Glenn.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Rick," Glenn almost sneered, "Doesn't change the fact that we're up to our necks in shit!"

"Hey!" I snapped, causing them stop and look at me, "You…you have no right to be angry."

"Jewels…" Maggie started.

"No!" I said, "For once in my goddamn life I'm gonna be the selfish one and you're gonna listen to me! The man I love left _me_. The man I opened my heart to left _me_. He left me and my baby."

"You're…pregnant?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, and I never got the chance to fuckin' tell him, cause Merle had to come and interrupt!" I snapped, "Y'all have no right…none! To be angry over this…so put your goddamn big boy britches back of a get the fuckin' car movin' again."

It was quiet as I walked back to the car and slammed the door behind me. It wasn't long before we got moving again and once back in the prison I went and sat in one of the cells by myself.

MONICA'S POV

"The boys are coloring and eating a snack," Carol said, walking over to me as I stood not far from the cell where Julianne was sitting.

"Thank you," I replied, "Y'all are so kind and I don't even know you."

"We were all strangers once…you're just an important stranger to Jewels," she said, "She say anything yet?"

I shook my head. "Not since we got here…she's just been sitting there looking at that damn shirt for the last couple of hours."

"Daryl's favorite shirt," she said, looking at the tan sleeveless shirt she was holding, "She hates that thing, told him he needed to find a new one. But he kept it and told her he'd wear what he damn well pleased."

"She would snag a stubborn man," I said, with a small smile, "Being as hard headed as she is."

"They're a perfect fit for each other…he'll realize he made a mistake and come back," she said.

"And earn a nice punch in the jaw," I stated.

DARYL'S POV

"There ain't nothin' out here but mosquitos and ants," I said as Merle stopped to take a piss.

"Patience, little brother," he said, "Sooner or later, a squirrel is bound to scurry across your path."

"Even so, that ain't much food," I said, looking down at the knife in my hand. It was Jewels' knife; some asshat back in Woodbury tried to use it on me, but I managed to grab it from him, but I forgot to give it back to her.

"More than nothin'," Merle said, "Say, don't that belong to sugar tits."

"Don't call her that," I growled, slipping the knife next to my own, "And we'd have better luck going through one of them houses we passed back on the turnoff."

"Is that what your new friends taught you? Hmm? How to loot for booty?" he asked.

"We've been at it for hours. Why don't we find a stream, try to look for some fish?" I suggested, immediately regretting it. I thought about the night that we had to leave the farm and Jewels, even with her broken fingers and the cold water caught those fish and noodled that 25 pound catfish.

"I think you're just trying to lead me back to the road, man," he said, "Get me over to that prison."

"They got shelter. Food. A pot to piss in…might not be a bad idea," I said.

"For you….and your dick maybe," he said, "Ain't gonna be no damn party for me."

"Everyone will get used to each other."

"They're all dead…makes no difference."

My heart dropped to my stomach. "How can you be so sure?"

"Right about now he's probably hosting a housewarming party where he's gonna bury what's left of your pals and that fuck buddy of yours."

"She has a name!"

"Whatever…let's hook some fish."

JEWELS' POV

"Cariño…I brought you some oatmeal," Monica said, kneeling in front of me, "Added some of those blackberries Carol said you found just outside of the prison. Think you can stomach some food?"

"I'm not hungry," I mumbled, pulling my knees closer to my chest.

"Usted necesita comer, usted y el pequeño tanto necesita su fuerza," she said.

"Le dije que no tengo hambre," I said, looking away from her.

"El hecho de que Daryl era un imbécil y que dejó atrás, no significa que usted puede dar a ti mismo y ese bebé," she said, "Usted no consigue a renunciar solo porque él se fue."

I looked at her. "I'm so angry at him…but I miss him so much."

She put her hand on my head. "You love him, and there's nothing wrong with having a broken heart…but right now you have you and that baby to focus on. Staying as healthy as you possibly can is the first step….eat." I slowly sat up and I took the bowl from her and began to eat. "There's an old saying that goes "you don't know what you've got till it's gone"…he's gonna learn that really fast."

DARYL'S POV

"Smells to me like the Sawhatchee Creek," Merle said.

"We didn't go west enough," I said, "There's a river down there, it's got to be the Yellow Jacket."

"You have a stroke, boy?" he questioned, "We ain't even come close to Yellow Jacket."

"We didn't go west…just a little bit south," I argued, "That's what I think."

"Know what I think?" he said, "I think that girl of yours fucked the sense of direction right out of ya."

My grip tightened on my crossbow and my jaw tighten, but I just let the comment go. "Yeah, we'll see."

"What do ya want to bet?"

"I don't want to bet nothin'. It's just a body of water. Why's everything got to be a competition with you?" _'Not like I have anything to bet anyway…' _I thought, putting my hand on the handle of Jewels' knife.

"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy, little brother…just tryin' to have a little fun here…no need to get your panties in a bundle."

I was about to say something when I heard something and stopped in my tracks. "You here that?"

"Yeah, wild animals getting wild," he replied.

"No," I said, hearing the sound again, "It's a baby."

"Oh, come on. Why don't you just piss in my ear and tell me it's raining, too? That there's the sound of a couple of coons make love, sweet love…know what I mean?" he said.

I ignored him and followed the sound and we came across a bridge where a baby was crying, because the car that it was in was surrounded by walkers and its family was fighting them off…or at least trying.

"Hey! Jump!" Merle yelled at one of the men.

I glared at him before heading to the bridge to help the two men up on the bridge. It was a cut and dry take down the walkers. Instead of walking away after the fact, which I had planned to do, Merle had other ideas.

He walked over to the car where the mother and the baby were and opened the back door and started searching through it.

"Get out of the car," I said, holding up my crossbow.

"I know you're not talking to me, brother," he said.

After he stepped away from the car I looked at the father. "Get in your car and get the hell out of here. Go! Get in your car! Go!"

"The shit you doing, pointing that thing at me?" Merle asked, knocking the crossbow away from him.

"They were scared, man," I said.

"They were rude is what they were. Rude and they owed us a token of gratitude," he said.

"They didn't owe us nothin'," I argued.

"You helping people out of the goodness of your heart? Even though you might die doing it? Is that something Sheriff Rick taught you?"

"There was a baby!"

"Oh, otherwise you would have just left them to the biters, then?"

"Man, I went back for you. You weren't there. I didn't cut off your hand, neither. You did that. Way before they locked you up on that roof….you asked for it."

"You know…you know what's funny to me? You and Sheriff Rick are like this now. Right? I bet you a penny and a fiddle of gold that you never told him that we were plannin' on robbin' that camp blind."

"It didn't happen."

"Yeah, it didn't 'cause I wasn't there to help you…plus that damn bitch of yours probably would have gotten in the way. You never care one bit about a piece of tail until she came along."

"Don't bring her into this!" I snapped, "And you weren't there to help? What, like when we were kids, huh? Who left who then?"

"What? Huh? Is that why I lost my hand?" he questioned.

"You lost your hand cause you're a simpleminded piece of shit!" I yelled.

"Yeah? You don't know!" he started and he grabbed at me, causing my shirt to rip and me to fall to the ground, "I…I didn't know he was…"

I quickly tried to cover my back back up with my shirt but just resorted to throwing my pack back on. "Yeah…he did," I said, sourly, "He did that same to you, that's why you left first."

"I had to, man. I would have killed him otherwise…" he said, as I began to walk off, "Where are you going?"

"Back where I belong," I snapped.

"I can't go with you," he said, "I tried to kill that black bitch. Damn near killed the Chinese kid."

"He's Korean," I snapped.

"Whatever," he said, "Not to mention I beat up that bitch you knocked up."

"What did you just say?" I asked.

"You heard me…you knocked sugar tits up…but she didn't have the nerve to tell ya," he said.

I turned and high-tailed it back in the direction of the prison.

"HEY! HEY!" I heard him yell.

'_Damn it…Jewels…baby girl, I'm sorry…' _ I thought as I kept running.

_TO BE CONTINUED…._

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><p><strong>Translations (again, please correct me if there is something wrong in the translation):<strong>

**Usted necesita comer, usted y el pequeño tanto necesita su fuerza – You need to eat, you and the little one need your strength.**

**Le dije que no tengo hambre – I said I'm not hungry**

**El hecho de que Daryl era un imbécil y que dejó atrás, no significa que usted puede dar a ti mismo y ese bebé – Just because Daryl was a asshole and left you behind, doesn't mean you can give up on yourself and that baby**

**Usted no consigue a renunciar solo porque él se fue – You don't get to give up just cause he left.**


End file.
